THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


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V. 


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GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY 

— OF — 

'ALABAMA. 

EUGENE  ALLEN  SMITH,  Ph.  D,.  State  Geologist. 


HEPORT 

ON   THE 

CAHABA    COAL    FIELD, 

BY 

JOSEPH    SQUIRE,    M.    E., 

Assistant  in  Charge  of  Cahaba  Fikld. 

WITH 
ON    THB 

Geology  of  the  Valley  Regions  Adjacent  to  the  Cahaba  Field, 

BY 

EUGENE  A.  SMITH. 


With  31  Figures  in  the  Text,  7  Plates,  and  a  Map  of  the  Cahaba  Field 
and  Adjacent  Regions. 


MONTGOMERY,  ALA.: 

THK   BROWN  PRINTING   CO.,    STATB    PRINTERS    AND   BINDERS. 

1890. 


INTRODUCTORY   LETTER. 


To  His  Excellency, 

Thomas  Seay, 

Governor  of  Alabama : 

Sir  : — I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith,  a  report  on 
the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  by  Joseph  Squire.  In  his  letter  of 
transmittal,  Mr.  Squire  has  given  a  short  account  of  the  man- 
ner in  v.'hich  the  map  was  first  begun,  and  has  come  finally 
to  be  published  by  the  Survey.  From  this  sketch  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  map  and  report*ai;e  the  result  of  more  than 
thirty  years  work  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Squire,  and,  at  the  very 
low  estimate  of  $1,500  a  year,  for  the  compensation  of  the 
geologist  and  for  the  making  of  the  tests  of  the  seams,  they 
represent  an  expenditure  of  at  least  $45,000  ;  the  cost  of  the 
Survey  has  been  only  about  one  seventh  of  that  sum;  the 
difference  has  been  given  to  the  State  by  Mr.  Squire  and 
those  for  whom  he  made  the  explorations.  I  think  we 
should  not  lose  sight  of  these  facts.  To  make  the  map 
more  complete  as  to  the  parts  not  occupied  by  the  Cahaba 
Field,  I  have  added  the  colors  showing  the  distribution  of 
the  Geological  Formations  in  the  adjacent  valley  regions, 
and  have  appended  to  Mr.  Squire's  report,  by  way  of  expla- 
nation of  these  colors,  a  short  account  of  the  lithological 
and  other  characters  of  these  different  geological  formations, 
together  with  such  other  matter  as  seemed  necessary  to  ac- 
count for  the  present  attitude  and  positions  of  the  strata  of 
these  formations  in  the  valleys.  In  1875,  1876,  and  later  in 
1882,  I  have  published  maps  and  descriptions  showing  in  a 
general  way,  the  structure  of  these  valleys,  but  in  the  pres- 
ent work,  on  so  much  larger  scale  than  any  of  the  previous 
ones,  there  was  the  necessity  for  much  greater  detail,  and 
this  needed  amount  of  detail  concerning  the  distribution  of 
the  various  formations,  their  limits  towards  each  other,  and 
the  geological  structure,  has  come  chiefly  from  the  notes  of 


Mr.  McCalley,  who  has  devoted  the  greater  part  of  the  last 
three  or  four  years  to  the  examination  of  this  and  the  other 
parts  of  the  State  occupied  by  the  rocks  of  the  older  forma- 
tions. The  woik  of  Mr.  A.  M.  Gibson  in  Murphree's  Val- 
ley, has  also  been  of  great  service  as  affording  the  clew  to 
certain  types  of  geological  structure,  as  will  be  seen  in  the 
body  of  the  report. 

I  have  been  somewhat  at  a  loss  to  determine  the  best  way 
of  exhibiting  the  distribution  of  the  surface  beds  of  the 
Tuscaloosa  formatiou  in  the  lower  part  of  the  area  shown 
on  the  map.  These  beds  overlie  the  older  formations  in 
patches,  whose  exact  outlines  could  not  possibly  be  deter- 
mined except  by  instrumental  survey,  the  cost  of  which 
would  have  been  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  importance  of 
the  information  thus  to  be  gained.  It  must  therefore  be 
understood  that  the  map  does  not  pretend  to  show  the  exact 
position  and  shape  of  all  these  overlying  tracts— and  the 
absence  of  defiuite  dotted  outlines  is  intended  to  indicate 
this — but  only  to  express  the  general  fact  that  the  Creta- 
ceous beds  overlie,  and  in  places  completely  hide  from  view, 
the  older  geological  formations.  Where  it  has  been  possi- 
ble to  ascertain  with  certainty,  or  with  a  high  degree  of 
probability,  the  distribution  of  these  underlying  formations 
in  spite  of  the  coveriag  of  Cretaceous,  as  is  easily  the  case 
with  the  Coal  Measures,  we  have  so  marked  it ;  but  in  the 
valley,  where  several  geological  formations  occur  in  narrow 
belts,  it  has  often  been  quite  impossible  to  trace  the  contin- 
uity of  these  belts,  and  thus  to  detercnine  the  structure, 
hence  the  unsatisfactory  condition  of  the  lower  part  of  the 
map.  In  time,  and  with  more  numerous  observations,  we 
shall  probably  be  able  to  bring  order  out  of  this  present 
confusion. 

Of  other  work  completed  or  in  progress  in  this  part  of  the 
State,  the  following  statement  will  not  be  here  out  of  place. 

Mr.  McCalley  has  been  engaged  for  several  years  upon 
the  examination  of  the  coal  of  the  Plateau  region  of  the 
State,  and  of  the  valleys  along  which  the  older  geological 
formations  of  the  State  are  exposed. 

The  greater  part  of  this  matter  is  already  written  up  and 
ready  for  the  printers,  and  all  of  it  will  be  ready  before  the 


the  end  of  the  winter.  The  Plateau  region  includes  all  that 
part  of  the  Coal  Measures  in  which  the  coal  seams  lie  high 
upon  the  mountains,  and  well  above  the  general  drainage  of 
the  country,  and  occupies  parts  or  all  of  the  following  coun- 
ties: Madison,  Jackson,  DeKalb,  Marshall,  Morgan,  Blount, 
Etowah. 

The  valley  region  includes  the  Tennessee  valley,  the  val- 
ley of  Blount  Springs  and  immediate  valley  of  the  Tennes- 
see river  above  Guntersville,  Murphree's  Valley,  Wills'  Val- 
ley, Jones'  and  Koups'  Valley,  and  Cahaba  Valley,  and  the 
great  valley  of  the  Coosa,  embracing  all  the  region  between 
Lookout  Mountain  and  the  Coosa  Coal  Field  on  the  west, 
and  the  hills  of  Clay  and  Cleburne  counties  on  the  east.  In 
these  are  exposed  the  older  geological  formations,  and  in 
them  occur  the  beds  of  red  and  brown  iron  ore  which  have 
played  so  important  a  part  in  the  industrial  history  of  the 
State.  In  my  biennial  report  to  the  present  General  Assem- 
bly I  have  spoken  more  specifically  of  the  several  reports 
now  ready  for  the  printers  upon  these  districts. 

Some  years  ago,  the  Uoited  States  Geological  Survey  un- 
dertook, in  the  interest  of  the  State  Survey  as  well  as  that 
of  the  United  States,  an  investigation,  the  chief  object  of 
which  was  to  make  a  carefully  measured  section  of  a  belt 
about  twenty  miles  wide,  extending  across  the  vallej'  region 
of  Alabama.  After  consultation,  we  selected  a  line  running 
northwest  and  southeast,  near  the  end  of  Lookout  Mountain 
at  Gadsden,  as  the  central  line  of  this  section  or  belt.  The 
investigation  was  to  determine  accurately  within  this  nar- 
row belt,  the  thickness  of  the  strata  of  the  several  forma- 
tions there  occurring,  together  with  the  variations  in  the 
lithological  characters  of  the  rocks  from  place  to  place,  and 
to  determine  the  geological  structure.  This  particular  belt 
was  selected  for  the  reason  that  all  the  older  geological 
formations  of  the  State  are  exposed  here,  and  the  geological 
structure  is  about  as  complicated  and  diversified  as  it  is 
anywhere  else. 

The  results  of  this  work,  which  was  finished  this  fall,  are 
embodied  in  a  report  by  Mr.  C.  W.  Hayes  of  the  U.  S.  Sur- 
vey, illustrated  by  a  map  and  several  geological  sections. 
This  report  will  be  published  as  a  document  of  the  State 


8 

Survey,  for  which  it  was  specifically  prepared,  some  time 
during  the  fall  or  winter. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  acknowledge  still  further,  the  obli- 
gation of  this  Survey  to  Maj.  J.  W.  Powell,  the  Director  of 
the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  for  the  very  efficient  aid  which 
he  has  also  given  us  in  the  investigation  of  the  geology  of 
the  southern  part  of  the  State.  Mr.  L.  C.  Johnson,  of  the 
National  Survey  has  spent  several  months  during  the  past 
year  in  field  work  and  in  the  preparation  of  a  report  upon 
some  of  the  newer  formations  of  Alabama.  This  report 
was  much  needed  to  make  complete  the  account  of  the 
geology  of  the  southern  part  of  Alabama,  begun  by  Mr- 
Johnson  and  myself  jointly  in  1883.  The  publication  of  this 
report  has  been  delayed  for  two  reasons — 1st,  that  we  might 
have  a  suitable  map  to  illustrate  it,  and  2nd,  that  this  sup- 
plementary work  might  be  done. 

The  report  upon  the  useful  and  noxious  plants  of  the 
State — the  timber  trees,  grasses  and  other  forage  plants, 
weeds,  <fec.,  promised  by  Dr.  Charles  Mohr  of  Mobile,  has 
not  yet  been  prepared,  because  of  the  illness  of  the  Doctor, 
but  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  say  that  we  shall  probably  get 
this  most  useful  report  some  time  during  the  coming  year. 
>Jo  one  in  the  country,  north  or  south,  is  so  well  fitted  for 
this  task  as  is  Dr.  Mohr. 

Since  the  publication  of  the  last  report  of  the  Survey,  the 
following  assistants  have  been  employed  upon  the  work  of 
the  Survey  :  Prof.  Henry  McCalley,  in  examination  of  the 
iron  ore  regions  of  the  State  ;  Mr.  Joseph  Squire,  upon  the 
map  and  report  on  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field ;  Mr.  A.  M.  Gib- 
son, upon  the  examination  of  Murphree's  Valley,  and  upon 
parts  of  the  Coosa  Valley ;  Mr.  J.  L.  Beeson,  upon  the  chem- 
ical analyses,  which  are  to  go  with  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field 
report,  and  with  the  report  on  the  iron  ore  region. 

It  has  been  found  necessary  for  Prof.  McCalley,  who  has 
heretofore  had  charge  of  the  chemical  work  of  the  Survey, 
to  devote  his  time  to  field  work,  and  the  preparation  of  his 
reports  thereon,  and  Mr.  Beeson  was  employed  to  make  the 
analyses  during  the  past  year,  but  arrangements  have  been 
made  by  which  Dr.  Wm.  B.  Phillips,  Prof,  of  Chemistry 
and  Metallurgy  at  the  University  of  Alabama,  will  hereaf- 
ter be  in  charge  of  this  work. 


In  addition  to  these  assistaats  who  have  been  employed 
by  the  Survey,  we  have  had  aid  from  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey,  as  already  indicated  above,  in  the  work  of  Mr.  C.  W. 
Hayes  and  his  assistants,  who  have  spent  several  seasons  in 
making  the  measured  section  spoken  of,  and  in  that  of  Mr. 
L.  C.  Johnson,  who  has  devoted  to  our  work  about  six 
months  of  the  past  year, 

Mr.  T.  H.  Aldrich  continues  as  a  volunteer,  his  study  of 
our  Cretaceous  and  Tertiary  fossils,  and  Mr.  D.  W.  Langdon 
has  given  about  two  weeks  of  his  time  to  us  recently. 

The  topographic  work  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  in 
our  State  is  going  on,  and  will,  in  the  next  three  or  fours 
years,  have  been  extended  over  the  entire  area  of  the  War- 
rior Coal  Field,  and  we  shall  then  have  a  good  topographic 
map  on  the  scale  of  about  two  miles  to  the  inch,  upon  which 
to  show  the  geology  of  this  region.  These  topographic 
maps  will  make  admirable  base  maps  for  the  illustration  of 
the  detailed  geological  work  which  the  Survey  now  proposes 
to  undertake,  and  electrotype  reproductions  of  the  plates  of 
these  maps  will  be  furnished  to  the  State  Survey  at  the  cost 
of  making  the  same. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Yours  most  respectfully, 

EUGENE  A.  SMITH, 
State  Geologist. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE. 

Fig.     1     Section  of  the  Mairmoth  Seam,  Ilenryellen  Basin 26 

2  Poole  Seam,  "  "     29 

3  Little  Pittsb'gh  Seam,  "  "     34 

4  "  "  it       ic  it     35 

5  Helena  or  McGill"       "  "     36 

6  Pump  Seam,  "  "     36 

7  Eureka  Co. 's  Slope  Seam,  Acton  "       43 

8  Acton  Seam,  "      "     43 

9  Wadsworth  Seam,   Helena         "     50 

10  "  "  "  "     51 

11  Buck  Seam,  "  "     52 

12  Black  Shale  Seam  "  "     53 

13  Little  Pittsb'gh  Seam,  "  "     54 

14  Helena  Seim,  "  "     57 

15  "  "  "  "     57 

16  "  "  "  "     58 

17  Wadsworth  and  Whetrock  Seams,  Cahaba 

Bai-in 66 

18  Wadsworth  Seam,  Eureka  Basin 71 

19  Helena  Seam,  Dry  Creek      "      77 

20  Gould  Seam,  Gould  Basin 81 

21  Helena  Seam,  LoUey  Basin 86 

22  "  "  "        "       86 

23  MoutevalloSeam"        "       87 

24  Black  Fireclay  Seam,  Lolley  Basin 88 

25  Montevallo  Seam,  Montevallo    "     93 

26  Helena  Seam,  Overturned  Measures 98 

27  Shaft        "  "  "         98 

28  Clark  Seam,  Dailey  Creek  Basin 107 

29  Gholson  Seam,     "        "  "     107 

30  "  "        "        "  "     107 

31  Thompson  Seam ,  Blocton  Basin 114 

Plate  1  Lancashire  method.     Endless  wire  rope  haulage,  Plan  and 

Section  to  face 120 

2  Method  of  woiking  sleep  dipping  seams,  to  face 122 

3  Diagram  of  Slope  Tram  and  ground  plan  of  Slope  and  room 

roads,  to  face 124 


12 

Plate  4    Section  along  the  Slope  and  across  the  Room  entrances,  to 

face 126 

5  Section  along  the  Room  roads  and  across  the  Hoisting  Slope 

to  face 126 

6  Section  N  W  and  S  E  from  the  Warrior  to  the  Coosa  Coal 

Field,  to  face 162 

7  View  of  Coal  Seam  with  Cambrian  Limestone  overlying  it, 

to  face 169 

Map  of  Cahaba  Coal  Field  and  adjacent  regions,  in  pocket  of  cover. 


PART  I. 

REPORT  ON  THE  OAHABA  COAL  FIELD 

— BY — 

JOSEPH    SQUIRE. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Letter  of  Transmittal 1 

Chapter      I.     General  Description  of  the  Cahaba  Field 8 

II.    The  Henryellen  Basin 20 

ni.    The  Acton  Basin 39 

TV.    The  Helena  Basin 47 

V.    The  Cahaba  Basin 61 

VI.    The  Eureka  Basin 68 

VII.    The  Dry  Creek  Basin 74 

Vni.    The  Gould  Basin 78 

IX.    The  Lolley  Basin 83 

X.    The  Montevallo  Basin 90 

XI.    The  Overturned  Measures 95 

XII.    The  Daily  Creek  Basin 103 

XIII.     The  Blocton  Basin Ill 

XIV.     On  Mining  Methods 118 


LETTEE  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 

Helena,  Ala.,  July  30th,  1890. 
Db.  Eugene  A.  Smith, 

State  Geologist. 

Sir — I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  my  report 
upon  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  of  Alabama,  with  map, 

A  few  words  respecting  the  development  of  the  map  into 
its  present  form  may  not  be  out  of  place.  The  first  begin- 
nings of  the  map  were  made  by  me  in  1859  or  1860,  while 
in  the  employ  of  the  Alabama  Coal  Mining  Company,  when 
a  fairly  correct  map  of  the  Montevallo  basin  was  made  and 
the  outcrop  of  the  Monteva.llo  seam  traced  by  means  of 
transit  and  chain.  A  few  years  later,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Montevallo  Coal  Mining  Company,  these  surveys  were 
extended  beyond  the  Montevallo,  into  the  Dailey  Creek  and 
Lolley  basins.  After  this,  in  the  years  1867-8,  the  surveys 
were  still  further  extended  and  details  worked  out  as  a  pri- 
vate enterprise  at  the  joint  expense  of  Dr.  I.  T.  Tichenor 
and  myself. 

In  1869-70  the  central  part  of  the  field,  including  the 
Helena,  Eureka,  and  part  of  the  Lolley  basins,  was  explored 
by  me  for  Daniel  Pratt  and  H.  F.  DeBardeleben.  In  1874 
for  Mr.  T.  H.  Aldrich  my  explorations  were  extended  from 
the  Montevallo  over  parts  of  the  Dailey  Creek  and  Lolley 
basins,  and  more  recently  over  a  good  part  of  the  Blocton 
and  Dry  Creek  basins. 

In  1883,  I  undertook  to  make  for  the  State  survey,  a  re- 
port and  map  of  the  Cahaba  field.  During  the  period  from 
1859  to  1883,  we  had  as  above  described  acquired  some 
pretty  accurate,  though  disconnected  knowledge  of  different 
parts  of  the  Cahaba  field,  especially  of  its  lower  part;  since 
1883  our  work  has  been  to  fill  in  the  gaps  and  work  out  the 
details  between  these  different  parts  of  the  field,  to  connect 
them  together  and  to  trace  out  from  one  end  of  the  field  to 
the  other,  the  outcrops  of  the  seams  and  to  reveal  the  com- 
1 


2  LETTER   OF  TRANSMITTAL. 

plicated  structure  of  the  field  as  a  whole,  and  as  the  out- 
come^of  this  work  we  have  the  map  iu  its  present  form.  It 
will,  however,  not  be  amiss  to  say,  that  during  this  period 
fiom  1883  to  the  present  time,  only  about  three  years'  work 
has  been  done  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  the  remaining 
time  having  been  occupied  in  surveys  and  explorations  in 
this  field  for  individuals  and  companies,  with  the  under- 
standing, however,  that  the  results  of  these  surveys  should 
eventually  be  turned  over  to  the  State  to  be  used  in  the 
preparation  of  this  map  and  report.  The  two,  who  have  in 
this  way  contributed  most  largely  to  this  work,  are  Truman 
H.  Aldrich  and  Henry  F.  DeBardeleben.  It  would  be  im- 
possible to  overestimate  the  public  spirit  and  liberality  of 
men  who  thus  freely  present  to  the  State  for  the  benefit  of 
all,  the  information  acquired  at  great  expense  to  them- 
selves. 

In  the  report,  I  have  not  gone  into  much  detail  in  the  de- 
scription of  the  different  parts  of  the  field,  for  the  reason 
that  the  map  is  constructed  to  show  as  nearly  as  possible, 
every  thing  that  we  know  concerning  the  Cahaba  field. 

Very  respectfully, 

Joseph  Squire. 


CHAPTER  I 


THE  CAHABA  COAL  FIELD. 

The  Cababa  Coal  Field  is  part  of  the  great  belt  or  Car- 
boniferous measures  that  commences  near  the  south  boun- 
dary line  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  continuiag  south- 
westward,  passes  through  the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  West 
Virginia,  Eastern  Kentucky,  East  Tennessee,  and  through 
the  north  half  of  Alabama. 

The  Warrior  Coal  Field  is  to  the  northwest  of  it,  and  the 
Coosa  Coal  Field  is  to  the  east  or  southeast.  Springville 
is  near  the  northwest  corner,  Montevallo  is  near  its  south- 
east corner,  and  Scottsville  is  near  its  southwest  corner. 

Along  its  northwest  side  and  north  end,  it  is  bounded 
by  the  Sub-Carboniferous  measures;  these,  and  the  Silurian 
and  Cambrian  beyond,  separate  it  from  the  Warrior  Coal 
Field.  On  its  southeast  side  it  is  bounded  by  the  great 
"fault"  that  separates  it  from  the  Cambrian  measures ; 
these  and  their  overlaying  Silurian  and  Sub-Carboniferous 
measures,  separate  it  from  the  Coosa  Coal  Field  ;  all  along 
its  south  end  it  is  bounded  by  a  "fault"  that  separates  it 
from  a  belt  of  Cambrian  and  Silurian  measures  that  inter- 
vene between  the  Carboniferous  and  the  "Drift"  measures 
to  the  South.  This  fault  is  the  continuation  of  that  just 
mentioned. 

It  is  a  common  saying  that  the  whole  world  is  akin  ;  this 
saying  will  apply  to  our  Coal  Measures  in  Alabama.  The 
main  characteristic  rock  formations  of  the  Cahaba  Coal 
Measures  are  the  same  as  those  both  of  the  Warrior  and 
the  Coosa  Field.  By  first  examining  the  rocks  of  the  lower 
half  of  the  Millstone  Grit  at  Brock's  Gap  (this  belongs  to 
the  Cahaba  field),  then  examine  the  base  of  the  Millstone 
Grit  immediately  South  of  Reid's  Gap  Station  (this  belongs 
to  the  Warrior  field),  then  go  out  on  the  Columbus  &  West- 


4  GEOLOGICAL   SURVEY    OF   ALABAMA.. 

ei'D  (Central)  to  Thompson's  Gap,  or  to  Carr's  Gap  on  the 
Georgia  Pacific,  both  on  Big  Oak  Mountain  and  near  Leeds, 
(tbese  last  mentioned  gaps  being  in  the  Coosa  Millstone 
grit,)  you  will  find  them  all  similar.  You  will  find  the  same 
rock  at  the  top  of  Monte  Sano,  Huntsville,  at  the  top  of 
Lookout  Mountain,  Chattanooga,  and  all  along  the  base  of 
the  Coal  Measures  of  Walden's  Ridge  and  Seqaatchee  Val- 
ley, Tennessee  ;  you  will  also  find  the  same  rock  at  the 
base  of  all  our  Alabama  Coal  Measures  wherever  they  are 
the  country  (or  surface)  rock. 

The  underlying  Sub- Carboniferous  limestone  is  not  very- 
thick  near  Brock's  Gap,  becomes  thicker  going  Northwards, 
as  is  evident  at  Blount  Springs,  where  Col.  Jackson  opened 
his  quarry,  and  to  a  greater  degree  still  at  Huntsville,  where 
it  is  over  700  feet  in  thickness.  It  also  shows  a  great  thick- 
ness at  Chattanooga. 

The  Coal  Measures  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  field,  like  those 
-of  the  Indian  Territory,  have  only  one  thin  ledge  of  lime- 
stone a  few  feet  in  thickness,  in  the  whole  of  the  measures  ; 
in  both  places  it  is  arenaceous  and  near  the  middle  of  the 
measures.*  Bichird  P.  Bothwell,  Editor  of  the  Engineer- 
ing and  Mining  Journal,  New  York,  was  the  first  to  discover 
this  ledge  some  twenty  years  aso.  The  almost  entire  ab- 
sence of  limestone  in  our  Coal  Measures  is  one  of  the  main 
points  of  difference  between  them  and  those  of  the  North- 
ern and  Western  States.  Another  great  peculiarity  in  our 
Alabama  Coal  Measures,  in  which  they  differ  from  anything 
seen  by  the  writer  in  the  United  States,  England,  Scotland, 
Wales  and  the  Continent  of  Europe,  is  that  the  great  con- 
glomerate of  our  Coal  Measures  is  at  the  top  of  the  series. 

The  five  hundred  feet  of  measures  alaove  the  Montevallo 
seam  are  mostly  conglomerates  or  pebbly  sandstones  (for 
description  of  which  see  chapter  on  Montevallo  basin). 

I  have  no  knowledge  of  any  similar  case  except  the  Coal 
Measures  near  Sydney,  Australia,  where  the  top  rock  of 
their  measures  is  an  immense  conglomerate,  still  larger 
than  ours. 

The  resemblances  between  our  Coal  Measures  and   those 

*  A  ledge  of  limestone  similar  to  that  described  by  Mr.  Squire  is 
found  also  in  the  Warrior  Coal  Field.  E.  A.  S. 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   GENERAL  DESCRIPTION.  5 

of  other  regions,  are  closest  along  the  lines  of  latitude. 
The  Coal  Measures  of  Arkansas,  for  instance,  and  the  In- 
dian Territory,  resemble  our  measures  much  more  than  do 
those  of  the  Northern  and  Northwestern  States.  The  aggre- 
gate thickness  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Measures  is  5,525  feet; 
the  Arkansas  and  Indian  Territory  Coal  Measures  have 
over  8,000  feet,  while  Illinois  and  Indiana  have  only  about 
700  feet  in  thickness  of  measures.  Another  peculiarity  in 
the  Cahaba  coal  seams  is  the  small  amount  of  sulphur  in 
them.  While  the  miners  of  Illinois  are  dulling  up  half  a 
dozen  picks  a  day  on  flakes  of  sulphur,  most  of  our  miners 
in  the  Cahaba  field  do  not  hit  a  flake  of  sulphur  oftener 
than  once  a  month.  In  some  of  our  Cahaba  seams  a  miner 
could  not  collect  a  single  pound  of  sulphur  flakes  in  a 
month.  The  cause  of  this  absence  of  pyrites  or  sulphur  in 
our  Cahaba  seams  can  not  be  explained. 

The  old  idea  that  our  coal  seams  have  been  formed  from 
a  tropical  forest,  composed  mostly  of  a  large  growth  of 
trees  is  entirely  erroneous.  An  occurrence  that  happened 
over  thirty  years  ago,  eradicated  those  ideas,  and  convinced 
me  that  trees  of  large  growth  were  the  exception,  and  not 
the  rule ;  at  that  time  it  became  part  of  my  duty  to  test  and 
examine  a  thin  seam  for  a  distance  of  forty  (40)  miles,  and 
I  found  its  maximum  tliickness  six  inches,  with  a  minimum 
of  two  inches  ;  this  fact  and  the  associated  fossils  connected 
with  it,  convinced  me  that  the  vegetation  more  nearly  re- 
sembled that  of  the  peat  bogs  of  our  day,  than  anything 
now  existing;  in  fact,  convinced  me  that  the  order  of  forma- 
tion was  from  a  peat  bog  to  imbedded  strata  of  lignite,  and 
from  lignite  to  the  hard  bituminous  seams  of  coal  now  tak- 
ing our  attention,  the  shrinkage  or  subsidence  of  the  part 
of  the  earth  on  which  they  existed,  allowing  these  peat 
bogs  to  become  covered  over  with  sandy  or  clayey  sediment 
by  the  action  of  water,  and  a  cessation  of  subsidence,  or  an 
elevation,  causing  the  next  bog  or  seam  to  form.  The  best 
evidence  of  the  absence  of  large  trees,  (except  a  few  scat- 
tered ones,)  may  be  obtained  by  asking  any  intelligent  old 
miner  that  has  spent  about  a  third  of  his  time  for  the  last 
twenty  or  thirty  years  underground,  to  state  approximately 
the  number  of  fossil  trees  with  a  diameter  over  six  inches 


6  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

he  has  seen  in  the  slates  and  rocks  surrounding  the  coal 
seams  he  has  mined  in  his  life  time  experience.  In  ninety- 
nine  cases  out  of  one  hundred  he  will  be  able  to  count  them 
on  his  fingers ;  and,  when  we  consider  that  a  coal  miner 
(whether  in  the  room  or  in  the  gangway),  advances  at  least 
two  feet  per  day  on  an  average,  or  makes  an  advance  of  at 
least  three  miles  in  thirty  years,  with  a  width  of,  (using  a 
medium  between  an  eight  foot  gangway  and  a  twenty-four 
foot  room,)  say  sixteen  feet;  his  experience  should  convince 
any  one  that  the  surrounding  circumstances  at  the  original 
formation  of  a  coal  seam,  resembled  those  of  a  peat  swamp, 
instead  of  a  tropical  growth  of  large  trees,  as  the  old  ideas 
represented.  The  evidence  is  not  positive  that  the  climate 
was  tropical  at  all,  but  rather  that  it  was  mild  and  of 
nearly  uniform  temperature.  In  evidence  of  this  I  will 
state  that  the  fossil  remains  of  the  Calamites  plant  can  be 
found  in  every  ledge  from  the  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit  to 
the  top  of  the  Montevallo  conglomerate,  according  to  my 
own  observation.  Now,  the  living  plants  most  nearly  re- 
sembliug  the  Calamite,  are  found  in  mild  and  even  cool  cli- 
mates. I  am  informed  by  men  that  have  been  to  New  Zea- 
land, that  the  flora  of  that  country  more  nearly  resembles 
our  extinct  Carboniferous  flora  than  any  they  have  seen; 
and  the  fact  is  beyond  dispute  that  New  Zealand  has  the 
mildest  climate  in  the  known  world ;  in  the  Southern  part 
they  do  not  have  sun  and  heat  enough  to  grow  our  Indian 
corn.  Therefore,  following  this  course  of  reasoning,  that 
like  causes  will  produce  similar  efi'ects,  we  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  obliterate  our  old  ideas  of  a  tropical  climate  with 
a  forest  growth  of  large  trees. 

Any  old  coal  miner  has  seen  millions  of  small  fossil 
plants,  but  I  have  not  met  one  who  has  seen  a  large  number 
of  fossil  trees. 

The  Cahaba  Coal  Field  is  drained  solely  by  the  Cahaba 
River  and  its  tributaries.  This  river  descends  from  its 
northeast  end  to  the  south  end  like  a  main  drain,  to  which 
all  the  creeks  and  branches  on  both  sides  contribute  their 
quota  towards  making  it  swell  out  to  such  proportions  that 
on  leaving  the  coal  field  it  is  large  enough  for  navigation, 
were  it  "slackwatered"  from  the  Alabama  River  to  the 
Coal  Field. 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :   GENERAL  DESCRIPTION.  7 

Cotton  boats  are  taken  down  it  from  the  edge  of  the  Coal 
field,  or  from  Centreville  every  year.  Joseph  Lightsey 
scarcely  ever  fails  taking  some  boats  loaded  with  cotton 
down  every  year  ;  he  never  attempts  it,  however,  except 
during  high  water. 

In  the  south  half  of  the  Coal  field  the  principal  tributa- 
ries on  the  west  side  are  Schullz's  Creek,  Caflfey's  Creek, 
and  Shade's  Creek  ;  on  the  east  side  of  the  south  half  of 
the  Coal  field  there  are  Little  Cahaba  Eiver,  Savage  Creek, 
Piney  Woods  Creek,  Beaverdam  Creek,  and  Buck  Creek,  at 
Helena.  In  the  north  half  of  the  field,  the  first  large  trib- 
utary of  the  Cahaba  Kiver  is  the  large  stream  named  the 
East  Fork  of  Cahaba  Eiver,  or  Mill  Creek,  which  joins  the 
river  at  Parker's  Mill,  at  a  point  due  southeast  of  Birming- 
ham ;  then,  farther  northeast.  Black  Creek,  after  draining 
nearly  the  whole  north  ecd  of  the  Coal  Field,  joins  the 
river  at  a  point  three  miles  northeast  of  Henry  Ellen.  The 
Cahaba  River  itself,  coming  from  the  direction  of  Truss- 
ville,  cuts  through  the  Millstone  Grit  of  Rocky  Ridge  and 
enters  the  Coal  field  near  Hickman's  Mill.  The  amount  of 
coal  ever  boated  down  this  river  is  very  small ;  none  at  all 
since  the  war  between  the  States.  George  Gardner  made 
an  efi'ort  before  the  war,  for  a  Montgomery  company,  to 
mine  coal  on  Ugly  Creek,  and  boat  it  down  this  river  ;  his 
boats  mostly  got  wrecked  on  the  shoals,  and  the  enterprise 
was  abandoned. 

Steamboats  have  been  up  this  river  at  times  to  Centreville, 
the  county  seat  of  Bibb  county,  a  town  on  the  river  a  few 
miles  south  of  the  Coal  Field. 

The  United  States  Government  made  some  improvements 
on  the  Cahaba  River  some  years  ago,  with  the  object  of 
making  it  navigable.  There  are  some  rock  shoals  between 
Centreville  and  the  edge  of  the  Coal  Field,  but  below  Cen- 
treville, I  am  informed,  there  are  no  shoals  more  serious 
than  gravel  shoals  to  the  Alabama  River.  The  distance 
from  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  to  the  Alabama  River  by  the 
meanders  of  the  stream  is  about  a  hundred  miles. 

The  principal  mountain-forming  rocks  in  the  Cahaba 
Coal  Field  are  the  Millstone  Grit  formation  and  the  Monte- 
vallo  conglomerate. 


8  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

The  highest  and  most  prominent  mountains  and  ridges 
in  the  Coal  Field  are  the  following  :  first  towards  the  north- 
west is  Shade's  Mountain,  formed  of  the  lower  measures  of 
the  Millstone  grit,  and  following  along  the  northwest  boun- 
dary of  the  Coal  Field  from  Canoe  Creek  in  St.  Clair  county, 
to  a  point  three  miles  west  of  Scottsville,  in  Bibb  county. 
This  ridge,  like  all  the  others  in  the  field,  changes  its  name 
with  the  locality  :  thus,  in  Bibb  county  it  is  known  as  Sand 
Mountain  ;  in  the  lower  end  of  Shelby  county  it  bears  the 
name  of  Farrington  Mountain  ;  it  is  called  Shade's  Moun- 
tain through  most  of  Shelby  and  Jefi'erson,  and  Eocky 
Ridge  in  St.  Clair  county. 

The  next  ridge  to  the  southeast  of  Shade's  Mountain,  and 
parallel  with  it  almost  the  whole  length  of  the  Coal  field 
and  formed  of  the  middle  portion  of  the  Millstone  Grit,  bears 
the  name  of  House  Mountain  in  the  south  end  of  Shelby 
county,  of  Pice  Ridge  in  the  north  end  of  Shelby  and 
south  end  of  Jefi'erson  county,  and  of  Flat  Ridge  in  the 
north  end  of  Jefferson  county,  while  all  over  St.  Clair 
county  it  is  called  Blackjack  Ridge. 

The  next  ridge  to  the  southeast  of  the  two  just  desoribed, 
parallel  with  them,  and  formed  of  the  upper  ledges  of  the 
Millstone  Grit,  is  known  by  the  name  of  Red  or  Chestnut 
Ridge  in  Shelby  aud  Jefferson  counties,  and  by  the  name  of 
Grassy  Ridge  in  St.  Clair  county. 

The  mountains  formed  by  the  Montevallo  conglomerate 
are  confined  to  the  lower  or  south  half  of  the  Field  ;  the 
most  prominent  being  Pea  Ridge,  which  is  a  fiat,  wide  ridge 
extending  from  Lacey  Station  on  the  Brierfield,  Blocton 
and  Birmingham  Railroad  to  the  fork  of  Big  and  Little 
Cahaba  Rivers.  This  ridge  owes  its  high  altitude  to  the 
presence  of  the  conglomerate  and  to  the  fact  that  the  meas- 
ures are  nearly  flat.  It  is  the  broadest  ridge  in  the  field 
and  divides  the  waters  of  the  Big  and  Little  Cahaba  Rivers. 

The  same  conglomerate  forms  another  ridge,  a  little  lower 
in  altitude,  over  the  synclinal  of  the  Dry  Creek  Basin.  This 
is  much  less  extended  than  Pea  Ridge,  but  nearly  as  high 
as  Pea  Ridge  in  its  central  part. 

In  the  northern  end  of  the  Coal  Field,  in  addition  to  the 
three  prominent  ridges  of  the  Millstone  Grit  already  de- 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD  :   GENERAL  DESCRIPTION.  9 

scribed,  viz  :  Eocky  Ridf:;e,  Blackjack  Ilid2;e,  and  Grassy 
Eiidge,  and  lying  to  the  southeast  of  the  last  named  and 
parallel  with  it,  is  Owen's  Mountain,  formed  of  the  sand- 
stones and  slates  overlying  the  Nunally  seam.  This  moun- 
tain is  not  continuous  through  the  field  like  the  others,  but 
in  the  northern  part  it  is  quite  as  high  and  prominent  as 
the  Millstone  Grit  ridges. 

Besides  the  mountains  above  mentioned,  which  are 
formed  of  the  rocks  of  the  Coal  Measures  of  the  Cahaba 
Field,  there  are  a  few  others  lying  outside  the  limits  of  this 
field,  which  deserve  mention  here  as  affording  prominent 
and  important  land-marks  to  guide  the  explorer  in  his  ex- 
aminations of  the  Cahaba  Field. 

There  are  two  very  prominent  mountains  to  the  south- 
east of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  ;  the  first  one  is  a  high  and 
continuous  cherty  ridge  running  within  half  or  three-quar- 
ters of  a  mile  of  the  Coal  field,  along  its  southeast  side, 
with  'Possum  Valley  between  it  and  the  Coal  field.  This 
ridge,  formed  of  the  chert  of  the  Silurian  formation,  bears 
the  name  of  New  Hope  Mountain  in  Shelby  County,  Mill 
Ridge  in  Jefferson  County,  and  in  St.  Clair  County  it  is 
known  by  the  name  of  Pine  Ridge,  changing  to  Anderson 
Mountain  at  the  north  end.  Beyond  this  to  the  southeast 
is  a  higher  mountain  than  any  yet  mentioned — the  highest 
in  sight  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field.  This  mountain  is  known 
in  Shelby  and  Jefferson  Counties  by  the  name  of  Big  Oak 
Mountain ;  in  St.  Clair  County  some  of  the  settlers  call  it 
the  Coosa  Mountain ;  about  three  miles  above  Carr's  Gap, 
where  the  Georgia  Pacific  passes  through  it,  this  mountain 
acquires  an  altitude  exceeding  anything  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field.  This  high  part  of  the  mountain 
bears  the  name  of  "  Bald  Rock."  Big  Oak  Mountain  is 
formed  of  the  Millstone  Grit  of  the  Coosa  Coal  Field. 

On  the  northwest  side  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  and  on 
the  opposite  side  of  Shades  Valley  is  the  Red  Mountain 
that  contains  the  thick  stratified  vein  of  red  fossilliferous 
iron  ore,  from  which  the  Birmingham  furnaces  are  mostly 
supplied.  This  mountain  is  a  prominent  land  mark  along 
the  northwest  side  of  this  Coal  Field  nearly  its  whole 
length  ;  its  distance  from  the  top  of  Shades  Mountain  varies 


10  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

from  a  half  a  mile  opposite  Blocton  to  about  five  miles  op- 
posite Bessemer,  about  three  miles  opposite  Birmingham 
to  about  two  miles  opposite  Gate  City,  Shades  Valley 
spreading  out  between  them  all  the  way. 

Beyond  Red  Mountain  to  the  northwest,  on  the  opposite 
side  of  Jones'  Valley,  the  Millstone  Grit  of  the  Warrior 
Coal  Field  forms  a  ridge  at  the  southeast  border  of  that 
field.  The  above  mentioned  mountains  and  ridges  are 
most  of  them  shown  on  the  accompanying  map. 

There  are  but  few  good  wagon  roads  in  the  Cahaba  Coal 
Field ;  some  of  them  are  county  roads  and  have  a  number 
of  hands  apportioned  to  work  them  once  or  twice  a  year ; 
others  are  settlement  roads,  and  are  either  worked  by  those 
living  along  them,  by  mutual  agreement  at  times  when 
they  become  extremely  bad,  or,  as  sometimes  happens,  they 
are  neglected  and  not  worked  at  all ;  there  are  other  roads 
that  are  never  worked  in  any  way,  and  when  they  become 
impassable  by  the  falling  of  a  tree  or  a  washout  in  the 
road,  they  are  simply  turned  to  the  right  or  left  and  the 
obstacle  is  thus  passed,  by  adopting  a  new  road  bed ;  many 
of  this  class  of  roads  become  just  bridle  paths. 

The  following  is  a  brief  notice  of  some  of  the  best  of  the 
wagon  roads  in  this  coal  field.  Beginning  at  the  north  end 
of  it,  we  find  the  Branchville  and  Springville  road  going  by 
David  Owen's  place.  This  road  is  not  much  used.  Father 
to  the  southwest  is  the  Branchville  and  Trussville  road 
going  by  Hickman's  Mill.  To  the  southwest  of  this  is  the 
road  from  Moody's  Cross  Boads  going  by  Rock  Spring 
Church  to  Trussville.  Still  father  southwest  is  the  Rowan 
Road  from  Leeds  to  Birmingham  ;  this  road  keeps  within 
a  short  distance  of  the  Columbus  and  Western,  and  Geor- 
gia Pacific  railroads  a  good  part  of  the  way,  crossing  the 
railroads  at  several  pUices  and  going  bv  Gate  City.  Farther 
to  the  southwest  is  the  road  from  Pledger's  Mill  to  Gate 
City  and  Birmingham ;  this  crosses  the  Cahaba  River  at 
the  Glass  Ford.  To  the  southwest  of  this  is  the  Colum- 
biana and  Birmingham  road  ;  this  crosses  the  Montevallo 
and  Ashville  road  in  Cahaba  Valley,  at  Rufus  DeShazo's 
place,  passing  by  DeLoach  and  Company's  Grist  Mill,  cross- 
ing the  Cahaba  River  at  the    Dodd  Ford.     Father  to  the 


CAHABA   COAL    FIELD  :   GENERAL  DESCRIPTION.  11 

southwest  is  the  Helena  and  Birmingham  wagon  road  ;  this 
one  crosses  the  Cahaba  Eiver  at  the  Bain  Ford,  and  crosses 
Shade's  Mountain  two  and  a  half  miles  above  Oxmoor. 
The  next  road  to  the  southwest  is  the  Helena  and  Tusca- 
loosa wagon  road ;  this  crosses  the  Cahaba  River  at  the 
Lainey  Ford  going  by  Shade's  Creek  Church  and  Green- 
pond  to  Tuscaloosa.  Still  further  to  the  southwest,  and 
crossing  a  wider  part  of  the  Coal  Field,  is  the  Montevallo 
and  Tuscaloosa  wagon  road  ;  this  road  goes  by  Boothtown, 
crosses  the  Cahaba  Eiver  at  Booth's  Ferry  or  Booth's  Ford, 
joining  the  Helena  and  Tuscaloosa  road  near  Shades  Creek 
Church,  thence  on  to  Greenpond  and  Tuscaloosa.  To  the 
southwest  of  this  is  the  Aldrich,  Blocton  and  "Woodstock 
wagon  road,  going  by  the  D.  Lenholm  place  ;  this  road  is 
not  much  used,  but  crosses  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  at  the 
widest  part  of  it,  the  distance  in  an  air  line  across  the  Coal 
Field  from  Aldrich  to  Thrasher's  Mill  beyond  Blocton,  is 
over  fourteen  miles.  To  the  southwest  of  this  is  the  Wood- 
stock and  Centreville  road,  going  by  Randolph's  Mill  and 
Eiver  Bend.  All  of  the  above  wagon  roads  cross  the  Cahaba 
Coal  Field,  some  of  them  diagonally,  others  nearly  direct 
across.  The  Cahaba  Coal  Field  away  from  the  mines,  is 
sparsely  settled,  making  road  working  a  heavy  burden  on 
the  inhabitants,  one  of  whom,  James  Lindsey,  has,  himself, 
made  and  kept  in  order  for  many  years,  more  than  six  miles 
of  road,  in  order  to  keep  up  communication  with  neighbor- 
ing towns.  The  surface  of  the  Cahaba  Field  is  very  broken 
and  contains  but  a  small  percentage  of  level  land,  that 
being  mostly  river  or  creek  bottom  land. 

The  Cahaba  Coal  Field  has  the  following  railroads  within 
its  boundaries  ;  in  the  north  end  of  the  field  is  the  Colum- 
bus &  Western  Division  of  the  Central  of  Georgia  railroad  ; 
this  road  runs  from  Birmingham  to  Opelika  and  Savannah. 

Near  it,  and  alongside  part  of  the  way,  is  the  Georgia 
Pacific  railroad  ;  this  road  runs  from  Birmingham  to  Aunis- 
ton  and  Atlanta.  Both  the  above  roads  pass  through  Henry- 
ellen  and  Leeds. 

Passing  through  the  middle  portion  of  this  coal  field  is 
the  South  and  North  Alabama  Division  of  the  Louisville 
and  Nashville   company's  main  line,  from  New  Orleans  to 


12  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

Louisville  and  Cincinnati.  Connected  with  this  main  line 
is  the  Birmingham  Mineral  Railroad,  from  Helena  to  Gur- 
nee.  This  Company  have  a  right  or  lease  to  run  on  the 
railroad  from  Gurnee  to  Blocton. 

Farther  to  the  southwest  is  the  Brierfield,  Blocton,  and 
Birmingham  railroad  ;  this  road  runs  from  a  point  about  a 
mile  southwest  of  Montevallo  to  Gurnee  and  Blocton,  the 
main  line  continuing  on  from  Gurnee  to  Bessemer,  thence 
over  the  Alabama  Great  Southern  to  Birmingham. 

The  Cahaba  Coal  Mining  Company  have  a  railroad  from 
Woodstock  to  their  various  mines  at  Blocton;  the  main 
line  is  about  nine  miles  in  length  ;  their  branches  to  the 
different  mines  and  side  tracks  increase  their  railroad  mile- 
age to  about  eighteen  or  twenty  miies. 

The  Briarfield  Coal  and  Iron  Company  have  a  branch 
railroad  running  from  their  coal  mines  at  Peter's  Mines,  to 
the  East  Tennessee,  Virginia,  and  Georgia  Railroad  at 
Brierfield ;  this  road  has  a  length  of  two  or  three  miles. 

The  Montevallo  Coal  and  Transportation  Company  have 
a  branch  railroad  running  from  Aldrich  on  the  Brierfield, 
Blocton,  and  Birmingham  Railroad  to  their  slope  on  the 
Montevallo  seam. 

The  Eureka  Company  have  a  branch  railroad  of  about  two 
and  a  half  miles  in  length  from  their  slope  in  the  Helena 
seam,  to  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  Company's  main  line 
at  Helena. 

The  DeBardeleben  Coal  and  Iron  Company  have  a  branch 
railroad  from  their  No.  3  slope  above  Henryellen  to  the 
Columbus  and  Western  Railroad.  The  above  railroads  are 
all  completed  and  in  running  order,  with  the  exception  of 
the  DeBardeleben  Coal  and  Iron  Company's  branch  and  the 
Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  line  from  Gurnee  to 
Bessemer;  this  is  all  let  out  under  contract  to  Aldrich, 
Worthington  aud  Company,  and  they  are  pushing  the  work 
forward  with  five  hundred  to  ten  hundred  hands. 

The  above  railroads  are  but  a  small  fraction  of  what  prob- 
ably will  be  constructed  in  this  Coal  Field  in  the  future ;  it 
will  require  at  least  ten  times  their  amount  in  mileage,  to 
bring  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  up  to  its  full  working  capacity. 

The  Cahaba  Coal  Field  is  sixty-eight  miles  in  length  by 


CAHABA    COAL    FIELD  :    GENEIUL    DESClilPTION.  13 

an  average  wicltli  of  five  and  eight  tenth  miles,  and  contains 
a  surface  area  of  three  hundred  and  nir.ety-four  and  a  half 
(394.2)  square  miles.  In  my  computation  of  the  amount  of 
good,  workable  coal  in  this  coal  field,  I  have  included  all 
workable  seams  of  two  feet  and  upwards  in  thickness,  and 
have  excluded  all  seau)s  in  the  vertiCrtl  Coal  Measures  of 
the  boundary  fault,  and  those  of  the  interior  fault,  fur  they 
are  not  workable  at  present  and  probably  never  will  be,  in 
either  fault.  The  extreme  limit  in  depth  of  the  lowest 
seams  embraced  in  my  computtitiou,  is  4,700  feet  vertical. 
With  the  above  named  limitations,  this  coal  field  contains 
an  aggregate  of  3626  millions  of  tons  of  coal  (tons  of  2  000 
pounds),  from  which  the  loss  or  waste  in  mining  will  have 
to  be  deducted.  For  the  amount  of  coal  in  each  basin,  see 
the  chapters  on  eaiih  particular  basin. 

There  are  eleven   basins  in   this  coal   field,  besides  the 
"Overturned  Measures"  at  the  south  end  of  the  Field. 

The  horizontal  sections  on  the  accompanying  map  illus- 
trate the  structure  of  nearly  all  of  these  basins.  At  the 
north  end  of  this  Coal  Field  along  the  line  shown  on  map 
from  "A"  to  "B,"  is  the  Adkins  Horizontal  Section,  giving 
the  structure  of  the  north  end  of  the  basin  and  relative 
positions  of  seams.  The  Henryellen  Horizontal  Section  gives 
the  structure  of  the  basin  and  relative  positions  of  seams 
along  the  line  from  "C"  to  "D."  The  Deshazo  Horizontal 
Section  gives  the  structure  of  the  basin  and  relative  position 
of  the  seams  along  the  line  on  the  accompanying  map  from 
"  E  "  to  "  F."  Below  this  is  the  Acton  Basin  Horizo7ital  Sec- 
tion along  the  line  from  "G"  to  "H,"  with  relative  position 
oi  same.  The  Helena  Horizontal  Section  along  the  line  from 
"I"  to  "J,"  gives  the  structure  of  the  Cahaba  Basin  and 
the  Helena  Basin,  with  relative  position  of  seams  in  same. 
The  Dry  Creek  Horizontal  Section  along  the  line  on  ac- 
companying map  from  "K"  to  " L,"  gives  the  structure  of 
the  Gould  Basin,  and  the  Dry  Creek  Basin,  with  relative 
position  of  seams  in  each  one. 

The  Blocton  and  Montevallo  Horizontal  Section,  along  the 
east  and  west  line  on  accompanying  map  from  "  M "  to 
" N,"  gives  the  structure  of  the  Blocton  Basin;  also  that 
of  the  Dailey  Creek  Basin  and  that  of  the  Montevallo  Basin 
with  the  relative  position  of  the  seams  in  each  basin. 


14  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

In  the  vertical  sectious  represented  on  the  accompanying 
map,  the  Henru  lien  Vertical  Section  shows  the  relative  posi- 
tion of  the  seams  and  rocks  in  the  Henrjellen  Basin.  The 
South  and  North  Alabama  Railroad  Vertical  Section  shows 
the  seams  and  rocks  of  the  Cahaba  Basin,  the  Helena  Basin 
and  the  measures  of  the  adjacent  territory.  The  Dailey 
Creek  Vertical  Section  shows  the  seams  and  rocks  that  out- 
crop in  that  basin  between  the  interior  fault  and  the  Stine 
seam  outcrop.  The  Blocton  Vertical  Section  shows  a  sec- 
tion of  the  measures  that  have  so  far  been  explored.  There 
are  undoubtedly  other  seams  in  the  part  marked  unexplored, 
that  the  drill  or  future  explorations  will  bring  to  light. 
The  General  Vertical  S  ction  shows  the  combined  informa- 
tion gathered  from  all  parts  of  this  Coal  field. 

The  rocks  or  Coal  Measures  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field 
have  an  aggregate  thickness  of  5,525  feet.  For  the  conven- 
ience of  miners,  exploring  students,  and  others,  I  have 
classified  these  measures  into  four  groups  : 

(1.)  The  first  or  lowest  group  extends  from  the  base  of 
the  Millstone  Grit  to  the  top  of  it,  or  in  other  words,  to  the 
top  of  the  "shield  rock"  of  Chestnut  Ridge  or  Grassy 
Ridge,  between  the  Gould  outcrop  and  the  Nunnally  seam 
outcrop  ;  I  have  named  this  one  the  "Millstone  Grit  GrowpP. 

(2.)  The  next  group  above  tbe  Millstone  Grit  Group,  ex- 
tends from  the  top  of  the  Millstone  Grit  to  the  top  of  the 
hundred  feet  of  blue  micaceous  sandstone ;  I  have  named 
this  group  the  "Micaceous  Group".  (There  are  about  200 
feet  in  thickness  of  measures  between  the  top  of  the  hund- 
red feet  of  blue  micaceous  sandstone  and  the  Wadsworth 
seam.) 

(3.)  The  group  above  this  extends  from  the  top  of  the 
hundred  feet  of  blue  micaceous  sandstone  to  the  Monte- 
vallo  seam  ;  I  have  named  this  one  the  "Productive  Group." 

(4.)  The  fourth  or  topmost  group  extends  from  the 
Monte vallo  seam  to  the  top  of  the  measures,  (about  500 
feet) ;  I  have  named  this  one  the  "Conglomerate  Group.'' 

The  rocks  forming  the  dividing  line  between  these  groups 
are  good  landmarks  all  over  this  coal  field,  wherever  they 
are  exposed. 

These  four  groups  are  all  tinted  differently  on  the  accom- 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   GENERAL   DESCRIPTION.  15 

panying  map  ;  the  different  groups  are  also  shown  in  their 
respective  colors  or  tints  in  the  vertical  and  the  horizontal 
sections  on  said  map.  The  rocks  of  tke  "Millstone  Grit 
Group"  are  colored  the  darkest  tint;  the  rocks  of  the  "Mi- 
caceous Group"  are  colored  a  shade  lighter  than  the  lowest 
group;  the  rocks  of  the  "Productive  Groap"  are  colored  a 
shade  lighter  than  the  Micaceous  Group,  and  the  "  Con_ 
glomerate  Group"  is  colored  the  lightest  of  all.  This 
arrangement,  I  hope,  will  enable  any  one  to  see  at  a  glance, 
the  class  of  measures  that  come  to  the  surface  in  different 
parts  of  the  field. 

The  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  like  the  Warrior  and  Coosa 
Fields,  has  a  great  "  fault "  along  its  south  and  southeast 
boundaries  ;  this  is  what  miners  term  an  "upthrow"  fault. 
For  convenience  we  have  named  this  the  "great  boundary 
fault."  Unlike  the  Warrior  Field,  this  has  also  a  similar 
fault  extending  down  the  middle  of  the  field  in  its  southern 
half ;  this  we  have  named  the  "  interior  fault."  At  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  field,  west  of  Montevallo,  the 
measures  show  two  fiults,  the  one  corresponding  to  the 
boundary  fault  above  mentioned,  the  other,  a  mile  to  a  mile 
and  a  half  north  of  it,  following  near  the  old  Coffee  and 
Freeman  line,  for  some  eight  or  nine  miles.  Between  these 
two  faults  the  Coal  Measures,  including  six  workable  seams 
of  coal,  have  been  completely  overturned,  and  left  dipping  at  an 
angle  of  sixty  degrees  towards  the  southeast.  In  addition  to 
these,  there  is  a  fault  separating  the  Lolley  from  the  Dry 
Creek  Basin,  which  I  have  termed  the  Piney  Woods  fault, 
from  its  position  along  a  creek  of  that  name  ;  and  further 
north,  the  Beaver  Dam  fault,  between  the  Dry  Creek  Basin 
and  the  Eureka  Basin,  named  from  Beaver  Dam  Creek 
which  flows  nearly  along  the  line  of  the  fault.  Besides 
these  faults  there  are  undulations  or  waves  in  the  measures 
producing  the  shallow  synclinals  with  the  almost  level 
measures  of  the  Montevallo,  the  Lolley,  the  Dry  Creek, 
Dailey  Creek,  and  Blocton  Basins  with  their  separating  anti- 
clinals. 

Outside  the  flat  and  undulating  measures  just  mentioned, 
and  the  vertical  measures  near  the  faults,  the  strata  of  the 
Cahaba  Field  show  an  almost  uniform  southeast  dip. 


16  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

All  these  displacements  of  the  strata  are  such  as  would 
have  resulted  from  the  action  of  an  immense  force  coming 
from  the  southeast,  by  which  the  strata  were  pushed  up  in- 
to folds  or  wrinkles,  lapped  over  in  many  cases  towards  the 
northwest,  and  in  other  cases,  fractured  along  the  tops  of 
the  folds,  and  the  bedii  on  one  side,  the  southeast,  pushed 
or  slipped  up  over  those  on  the  northwest,  as  is  seen  in  the 
great  faults  named.  This  displacement  in  the  great  bound- 
ary fault  amounts  to  ten  thousand  feet ;  in  the  case  of  the 
interior  fault  from  seven  to  fifteen  hundred  feet.  Of  course 
this  difference  in  the  altitude  of  the  strata  on  the  two  sides 
of  the  faults  does  not  now  exist,  and  possibly  never  did,  for 
denuding  forces  have  been  active  from  the  beiiinning  plan- 
ing off  the  high  places  and  reducing  all  to  a  common  level, 
as  may  be  seen  for  instance,  at  Helena,  where  the  Cambrian 
and  upper  measures  of  the  Cahaba  Field,  which  in  their 
original  position  are  ten  thousand  feet  or  more  apart,  now 
rest  side  by  side  at  the  same  level  on  the  two  sides  of  the 
great  fault. 

The  small  faults  or  "hitches"  in  the  measures  along  the 
northwest  edge  of  the  Blocton  basin,  also  result  from  the 
action  of  the  same  forces,  only  these  faults  are  much  more 
limited  in  width  and  the  amount  of  displacement  much 
less.  From  the  same  causes  also  result  the  curving  of  the 
ends  of  the  Eureka,  the  Helena,  the  Acton,  and  the  Henry- 
ellen  basins,  the  gentle  undulations  of  the  measures  in  the 
anticlinal  and  synclinals  of  the  Montevallo,  Blocton,  Dry 
Creek,  Dailey  Creek,  and  Lolley  Basins,  as  well  as  the  gen- 
eral southeast  dip  of  the  measures  of  the  field  taken  as  a 
whole. 

Along  these  faults  it  is  the  rule  to  find  the  upturned 
measures  on  the  north  and  northwest  side  of  the  fault, 
standing  at  a  much  steeper  angle  of  inclination  than  do  the 
older  measures  on  the  south  and  southeast  sides,  which 
have  slidden  upon  and  over  them.  This  is  seen  all  along 
the  great  boundary  fault,  where  the  upturned  edges  of  the 
coal  measures  stand  vertical,  hence  our  name  of  "vertical 
measures"  to  designate  them.  West  of  Montevallo,  as  we 
have  seen  above,  these  measures  have  been  pushed  over 
even  past  the  vertical,  and  completely  overturned,  so  that 


CAHABA   GOAL  FIELD  :   GENERAL   DESCRIPTION.  17 

they  dip  back  southeast  at  an  angle  of  60  degrees.  In  all 
these  cases  the  Cambrian  measures  on  the  south  and  south- 
east side  of  the  fault  have  a  slope  or  dip  to  the  southeast 
rarely  greater  than  fifty  or  sixty  degrees  near  the  fault,  and 
much  less  than  that  a  short  distance  away  from  the  fault. 
Along  the  interior  fault,  the  same  thing  may  be  noticed,  as 
for  instance,  along  the  line  of  the  South  and  North  Alabama 
Railroad  near  Helena,  where  the  Wadsworth  seam  at  the 
North  "Y"  has  a  dip  to  the  southeast  of  42  degrees,  while 
immediately  adjacent  to  this  towards  the  northwest  and  just 
across  the  line  of  the  fault  the  measures  stand  vertical,  and 
beyond  these  vertical  measures,  which  are  here  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  we  come  to  the  Wadsworth  seam 
again,  carried  up  by  this  upthrow  to  the  much  steeper 
dip  of  50  or  60  degrees  to  the  northwest.  And  even  along 
the  subordinate  faults,  such  as  the  Piney  Woods,  we  find  the 
measures  north  of  the  fault  dipping  at  an  angle  of  80  de- 
grees north,  while  those  to  the  south  of  the  same,  dip  only 
35  degrees  to  the  south. 

This  displacement  of  two  miles  vertical  along  the  great 
boundary  fault,  and  the  complete  overturn  of  a  strip  of 
country  nine  miles  in  length  by  over  a  mile  in  width  west 
of  Montevallo,  bear  witness  to  the  tremendous  force  that 
has  been  brought  to  bear  against  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field! 

The  Cahaba  Field  is  in  the  counties  of  St.  Clair,  Jefferson, 
Shelby,  and  Bibb  ;  the  northeastern  end  being  in  St.  Clair 
county,  the  southwestern  end  in  Bibb,  and  the  middle  por- 
tion in  Jefferson  and  Shelby.  The  county  lines  according 
to  recent  changes,  are  shown  on  the  accompanying  map. 

The  rate  of  dip  of  the  measures  of  the  Cahaba  Coal 
Field  varies  from  flat  or  perfectly  level  up  to  sixty  degrees 
from  the  horizontal.  The  wide  part  of  the  field  contains 
the  largest  amount  of  flat  measures.  In  the  Lolley  and 
Montevallo  Basins  you  can  travel  for  miles  and  find  it  very 
difiicult  to  decide  (judging  by  the  eye)  as  to  which  way  the 
measures  are  dipping.  The  Blocton  Basin  holds  a  large 
area  of  flat  or  level  measures  ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  the 
Dry  Creek  Basin,  and  the  north  end  of  the  Henryellen 
Basin. 

The  measures  on  the  southeast  side  of  the  interior  fault 
2 


18  GEOLOGICAL  SUKVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

generally  increase  their  rate  of  dip  as  they  approach  the 
fault. 

The  first  regular,  systematic  underground  mining  in  this 
coal  field,  was  done  at  a  mine  opened  in  the  Montevallo 
seam  at  a  point  about  one  mile  northwest  of  the  Montevallo 
Coal  and  Transportation  Company's  present  slope,  west  of 
Montevallo  about  three  miles  ;  this  was  about  the  year 
1856;  it  was  commenced  by  private  iodividuals,  and  then 
the  Alabama  Coal  Mining  Company  was  formed,  composed 
of  Johe  M.  Moore  of  Talladega,  Judge  Cooper  of  Lowndes 
county.  Dr.  Miller  of  Wilcox  county,'  and  others.  (This 
was  probably  the  first  underground  mining  done  in  this 
State.) 

The  demand  for  coal  and  iron  made  by  the  Confederate 
Government  during  the  war,  gave  a  new  impetus  to  mining 
coal  in  this  field,  and,  and  new  mines  were  opened  near 
Helena,  between  Boothtown,  and  Gurnee,  at  Ddiley  Creek, 
and  at  the  Montevallo  Mines,  and  also  to  the  southwest  of 
Dailey  Creek. 

Prior  to  the  war,  the  demand  for  coal  in  the  whole  state 
was  not  over  ten  or  eleven  thousand  tons  per  annum.  For 
a  number  of  years  after  the  war  closed,  the  demand  for 
coal  in  Alabama  was  not  much  greater  than  the  above. 
The  demonstration  had  not  then  been  made,  that  our  coal 
was  suitable  for  smelting  iron. 

For  a  number  of  years  after  the  close  of  the  war,  capi- 
talists refused  to  risk  their  money  in  the  then  doubtful  en- 
terprise of  building  coke  furnaces  to  decide  the  case  as  to 
whether  our  coals  would  smelt  our  ores  or  not. 

The  tendency  then  was  to  invest  in  efforts  to  make  cotton 
with  recently  liberated  slaves,  which  generally  ended  in 
disaster  and  loss.  Matters  remained  in  this  condition  after 
the  war  between  the  states  ended,  until  the  year  1870,  when 
Henry  F.  DeBardeleben,  with  a  boldness  and  enterprise 
that  he  has  shown  in  many  similar  cases  since  then,  launched 
a  hundred  thousand  dollars  into  the  rebuilding  of  the  partly 
destroyed  Red  Mountain  iron  furnaces  at  Oxmoor,  where  it 
was  eventually  demonstrated  that  our  coal  would  smelt 
our  iron  ores,  a  fact  that  we  had  long  craved  to  see  proved 
beyond  dispute.     He  displayed   still  greater  enterprise  in 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD  :   GENEEAL   DESCRIPTION.  1& 

expending  between  two  and  three  hundred  thousand  dollars 
in  the  opening  up  of  Pratt  Mines  and  bringing  cheap  coal 
and  coke  into  Birmingham.  Prior  to  that,  capitalists  from 
all  parts  of  the  world  had  seen  something  of  our  mineral 
wealth,  but  hesitated  to  venture  upon  the  experiment  to 
ascertain  whether  the  coals  and  iron  ores  of  Alabama  could 
be  worked  together  in  the  furnace  well  enough  to  make  it 
profitable.  It  was  well  known  then  to  a  few,  that  we  had 
an  abundance  of  good  coal  and  iron  ores,  but  that  very- 
essential  demonstration  to  ioduce  capital  to  come  here  to 
invest,  we  did  not  have. 

In  the  development  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  the  greatest 
credit  must  be  given  to  Truman  H.  Aldrich  and  Henry  F. 
DeBardeleben.  They  have  done^  more  than  any  others  to 
push  on  the  developments  and  mining  enterpriser  that  now 
dot  this  coal  field  ;  Cornelius  Cadle  and  William  F.  Aldrich 
have  also  contributed  largely  to  the  mining  development  of 
the  field. 

In  locating  some  of  the  coal  seam  outcrops  on  the  accom- 
panying map,  after  discovering  the  seam  and  being  positive 
of  its  presence,  I  found  it  impossible  to  ascertain  its  true 
relative  position  to  the  nearest  section  lines,  and  distance 
to  nearest  section  corners,  on  account  of  the  settlers  in  the 
vicinity  being  unable  to  point  them  out ;  leaving  me  no 
alternative  but  to  approximate  its  position  by  the  apparent 
distance  to  some  mountain  where  the  section  corners  were 
known  to  me,  or  to  take  the  compass  and  chain  and  run 
the  section  lines  off;  in  some  of  the  most  important  cases, 
I  ado^vted  the  last  way,  and  in  others  of  lesser  importance, 
in  fact,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  adopted  the  first  way  and 
approxinM,ted  their  position. 

With  regard  to  the  continuance,  or  uniformity  in  thick- 
ness of  the  coal  seams  shown  on  the  accompanying  map,  the 
future  developments  by  further  testing  and  mining  will  have 
to  decide.  I  have  given  the  thickness  and  location  of  all 
the  seams  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  as  accurately  as  the 
knowledge  obtained  up  to  this  date  would  enable  me  to  do. 
The  condition  of  a  seam  of  coal,  a  single  yard  beyond  its 
exposure,  no  one  living  has  positive  knowledge  of,  or  can 
rightfully  swear  as  to  its  size  or  its  purity. 


CHAPTER    II 


THE   HENEYELLEN  BASIN. 

The  Henryellen  basin  occupies  the  north  end  of  the  Ca- 
haba  Coal  Field ;  it  is  twenty-eight  miles  in  length  by  an 
average  width  of  four  and  a  quarter  miles,  measuring  from 
the  base  of  the  Millstone  grit  on  the  north-west  side  of 
Rocky  Ridge  to  the  great  boundary  fault  in  'Possom  Valley, 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field.  Its  greatest 
length  is  measured  from  the  southwest  end  of  the  basin  at 
a  point  about  a  mile  in  a  straight  line  si)uth  of  the  mouth 
of  the  east  fork  of  the  Cahaba  river,  where  it  joins  the  main 
stream,  to  the  northeast  boundary  of  the  basin  as  well  as 
of  the  Coal  Field,  at  the  Springville  prong  of  Canoe  creek. 

This  basin  contains  an  area  of  119  square  miles,  and  is 
drained  solely  by  the  waters  of  the  Cahaba  river  and  its 
tributaries ;  chiefly  of  the  east  fork  of  Cahaba  river  and 
the  numerous  prongs  of  Black  creek.  The  outcropping  of 
the  Millstone  grit,  having  a  rate  of  dip  of  about  nine  de- 
grees, and  forming  what  is  known  in  this  region  as  Rocky 
Ridge,  clearly  outlines  the  northwestern  and  the  north- 
eastern boundary  of  the  basin,  as  well  as  the  b'.  undary  of 
this  portion  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field.  The  great  fault  in 
'Possum  Valley  separating  the  Cambrian  from  the  Carbon- 
iferous measures,  forms  its  south-eastern  boundary.  South- 
east of  said  boundary  fault,  and  running  parallel  with  it,  is 
a  high,  prominent  cherty  ridge  of  Silurian  age,  known  near 
the  southwest  end  of  the  basin  as  Mill  Ridge,  near  the 
middle  portion  of  the  basin  as  Pine  Ridge,  and  near  the 
northeast  end  of  the  basin  as  Anderson  Mountain.  This 
prominent  ridge  can  be  seen  from  almost  any  part  of  the 
high  ridges  in  the  basin,  guiding  the  eye  to  the  location  of 
the  basin  (also  Coal  Field)  at  its  foot.  The  southwest  boun- 
dary of  the  basin  passes  through  sections  28,  34  and  35, 
township  18,  ranee  2,  west,  intersecting  the  Cahaba  river  at 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD  :    HENRYELLEN  BASIN.  21 

a  point  a  little  over  a  mile  in  a  straight  line  below  the 
mouth  of  the  east  fork  of  Cahaba  river ;  the  wagon  road 
from  Caldwell's  Mill  to  Watkin's  Gap  on  Shades  Mountain 
crosses  the  southwest  boundary  of  the  basin  in  section  26. 
A  line  commencing  at  the  Alice  furnaces  in  Birmingham, 
and  run  to  the  southeast,  would  cut  off  to  the  northeast, 
that  portion  of  the  Cahaba  Coald  Field  embraced  bj  the 
Henryellen  basin  ;  said  line  would  intersect  the  first  coal 
seam  at  a  distance  from  the  Alice  furnaces  of  four  and  a 
half  miles  ;  continuing  said  line  still  further  southeast,  it 
would  reach  the  southeast  boundary  of  the  Cahaba  Coal 
Field  (passing  entirely  over  that  portion  of  the  field)  at  a 
distance  of  nine  miles  from  the  Alice  furnaces. 

The  boundary  of  the  Henryellen  basin  may  be  described 
as  follows  :  Starting  from  Birmingham  with  a  due  south- 
east course,  the  top  of  Red  Mountain  is  reached  at  a  dis- 
tance of  one  and  a  half  miles  ;  Shades  creek  is  crossed  at 
three  and  a  half  miles,  and  the  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit 
reached  at  four  and  a  half  miles,  at  a  point  two-thirds  of 
the  way  up  Shades  Mountain  on  its  northwest  side,  about 
three  hundred  yards  from  the  top  of  the  mountain.  The 
course  is  thence  northeast  along  Shades  Mountain  (the  base 
of  the  Millstone  grit  following  along  the  northwest  side  of 
the  mountain),  with  Shades  creek  meandering  along  the 
Yalley  to  the  left  at  a  distance  of  from  half  a  mile  to  a  mile 
from  the  crest  of  Shades  Mountain.  After  continuing  along 
the  mountain  for  three  or  four  miles  the  ruins  of  the  old 
Irondale  furnace  may  be  seen  about  half  or  three  quarters 
of  a  mile  to  the  left ;  and  beyond,  still  following  along  the 
Millstone  Grit,  the  cut  is  soon  reached  through  which 
passes  the  Georgia  Pacific  and  Columbus  and  Western 
railroads  ;  here  the  Brock  seam  may  be  seen  exposed  in  the 
side  of  a  ditch  on  the  south  -side  of  the  railroad.  After 
passing  this  point.  Shades  Mountain  acquires  the  name  of 
Rocky  Ridge,  and  is  known  as  such  by  the  settlers  in  its 
neighborhood  all  along  to  its  end  at  the  northeast  corner  of 
the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  where  it  intersects  the  great  south- 
east boundary  fault  and  disappears. 

Leaving  the  railroad  behind  and  continuing  along  the 
Rocky  Ridge  with  the  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit  still  close 


22  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

to  the  left,  in  the  vallej,  on  the  left  the  divide  between  the 
head  waters  of  Shades  creek  and  a  prong  of  the  Cahaba 
river  is  soon  passed.  Trussville  may  be  seen  to  the  left 
from  a  point  on  the  mountaia  about  a  mile  southwest  of  the 
gap  where  Cahaba  river  penetrates  Rocky  Ridge.  Hick- 
man's Mill  is  on  the  river,  a  short  distance  up  stream,  and 
Revis's  Grist  Mill  down  stream  from  this  gap.  Our  boun- 
dary Hue  continues  along  Rocky  Ridge,  following  the  same 
direction  (the  measures  having  a  rate  of  dip  to  the  south- 
east of  about  nine  degrees),  until  arriving  at  a  point  one 
and  a  quarter  miles  south  of  Springville,  where  the  Rocky 
Ridge  with  its  accompanying  Millstone  Grit  changes  its 
direction  and  bears  to  the  southeast,  the  Springville  prong 
of  Canoe  creek  following  close  along  its  foot  at  the  north- 
east side.  Opposite  to  Truss'  Mill,  on  Canoe  creek,  it  will 
be  noticed  that  the  Millstone  Grit  became  vertical  and  the 
direction  of  the  boundary  of  the  basin  and  Coal  Field 
changes  and  bears  from  this  point  due  south,  merging  into 
the  great  southeastern  boundary  fault  at  a  point  about 
one  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Odenville.  The  boundary  oi 
the  basin  and  Coal  Field  then  continues  along  'Possum  Yal- 
ley,  passing  close  by  the  DeBardeleben  Coal  &  Iron  Com- 
pany's office  and  store  at  Henryellen,  keeping  aloog  the 
valley  north-west  of  the  high  cherty  ridge  known  as  Ander- 
son Mountain,  Pine  Ridge  and  Mill  Ridge,  for  a  distance  of 
twenty-six  miles,  to  what  is  known  as  Bragg's  school-house 
or  Methodist  church. 

The  southwest  boundary  of  the  basin  extends  from  this 
point  northwest  across  the  Cadaba  Coal  Field,  intersecting 
Cahaba  river  about  a  mile  in  a  straight  line  above  Caldwell's 
mill,  thence  continuing  on  to  the  Millstone  grit  on  the  north- 
west side  of  the  basin  at  a  point  due  southeast  from  Birm- 
ingham and  about  four  or  five  miles  distant. 

There  are  about  sis  public  and  settlement  roads  crossing 
this  basin,  along  which  nearly  all  the  rocks  of  our  Cahaba 
Coal  Measures  can  be  examined,  except  the  great  500  feet 
conglomerate  that  overlies  the  Montevallo  seam ;  though 
a  part  of  this  conglomerate  can  be  seen  ou  the  Birmingham 
and  Columbiana  road  near  DeLoach  &  Company's  grist 
mill.     One  of  the  roads  leaves  the  Birmingham  and  Spring- 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD  :    HENRYELLEN   BASIN.  23 

ville  road  near  the  Glenn  place,  crosses  the  basin  and  leads 
to  Branch  ville  in  Cahaba  Valley.  Another  road  leaves 
Trussville,  taking  almost  a  due  east  course  across  the  Coal 
Field,  and  also  leads  to  Branchville.  Another  road  leaves 
Trussville,  crosses  the  Field  and  leads  to  Moody's  cross- 
roads in  Cahaba  Valley.  Another  road  leaves  Gate  City 
and  Irondale,  and  crossing  the  Georgia  Pacific  and  Colum- 
bus and  Western  railroads  at  places,  leads  to  the  Rowan 
place  in  Cahaba  Valle}';  this  is  called  the  "Rowan  Road." 
Another  road  leaves  Gate  Gity  and  Irondale  and  crosses 
the  basin  going  by  the  Glass  Ford  on  Cahaba  river,  and 
Pledger's  Mill  on  East  Cahaba  river,  to  a  point  on  the 
Cahaba  Valley  road  about  two  miles  north  of  Bridgeton. 
Another  road  leaves  Birmingham,  crosses  Shades  Mountain 
at  Watkin's  Gap,  crosses  Cahaba  river  at  the  Dodd  Ford, 
crosses  the  East  fork'  of  Cahaba  river  just  below  DeLoach 
and  Company's  grist  mill  and  leads  to  Columbiana,  crossing 
Cahaba  Valley  southwest  of  Bridgeton  about  one  mile  ; 
this  is  called  the  Columbiana  and  Birmingham  road. 

At  least  nine-tenths  of  the  measures  of  the  entire  Cahaba 
Coal  Field  are  crossed  by,  and  partly  exposed,  along  the 
above  roads.  The  succession  of  these  measures  is  as  fol- 
lows :  Approaching  the  basin  from  the  northwest,  you  pass 
over  the  sub-carniferous  rocks  to  the  base  of  Shades  Moun- 
tain or  Rocky  Ridge  ;  ascending  said  mountain  you  first  ar- 
rive at  the  base  of  the  Millstone  grit  formation,  about  three 
hundred  yards  from  the  crest  of  the  mountain.  About  150 
yards  above  you  pass  over  a  seam  of  coal  known  as  the 
Brock  seam.  This  seam  is  thin  and  not  workable  in  any 
part  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  where  I  have  yet  seen  it, 
though  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Warrior  Field,  I  have 
seen  it  of  good  size,  holding  even  as  much  as  four  feet  of 
workable  coal  of  good  quality.  Above  this  comes  a  heavy 
layer  of  Millstone  grit,  which  in  places  is  a  conglomerate  of 
white  sandstone  with  numerous  white  pebbles  imbedded 
in  it,  and  in  other  places,  a  heavy  bedded  coarse  white 
sandstone.  After  descending  Shades  Mountain  or  Rocky 
Ridge,  you  will  find  heavy  layers  of  gritty  slate,  in  which 
ig  a  thin  seam  of  four  or  five  inches  of  coal.  Continuing  on 
in  the  direction  of  the  dip  you   will   ascend  another  high 


24  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

prominent  ridge  known  in  the  south  end  of  the  basin  as 
Pine  Eidge,  or  Flat  Ridge,  and  in  the  north  end  of  the  basin, 
as  Black-jack  Eidge  ;  this  ridge  is  formed  mostly  of  heavy- 
beds  of  the  white  Millstone  Grit  Sandstone,  overlying  the 
gritty  slates  and  forming  a  shield,  protecting  the  slates  from 
the  action  of  denuding  forces.  This  sandstone  is  composed 
of  the  same  material  as  the  white  sandstone  in  Shades 
Mountain  or  Rocky  Ridge.  After  passing  over  this  and  ar- 
riving at  the  foot  of  Fiat  Ridge  or  Black-jack  Ridge  on  it^; 
southeast  side,  you  will  cross  the  outcrop  of  a  thic  seam, 
generally  of  about  six  inches  in  thickness.  You  are  now  at 
the  base  of  the  immense  gritty  slate  formation  surrounding 
the  Gould  seam.  Before  arriving  at  the  Gould  seam  you 
will  notice  a  pink  sandstone  which  is  the  bottom  rock  of 
the  under-seam,  ten  feet  below  the  Gould.  Passing  over  the 
Gould  seam  you  will  find  a  yellow  and  pink  sandstone,  the 
roof  of  said  seam,  and  overlying  this  an  immense  layer  of 
gritty  slate.  Ascending  the  next  prominent  ridge,  which  in 
this  basin  is  mostly  designated  as  Grassy  Ridge,  (in  other 
parts  of  the  Coal  Field  it  is  known  as  Chestnut  Ridge,  Red 
Ridge,  &c.,)  ^ou  now  find  the  thick  beds  of  gritty  slate 
changing  their  color  and  texture  to  layers  of  sandstone, 
then  gritty  slate,  and  further  up  the  ridge  you  find  a  twenty 
or  thirty  foot  layer  of  bluish  black  slate.  On  attaining  the 
summit  of  Grassy  Ridge,  you  find  the  upper  layers  of  the 
white  Millstone  Grit  Sandstone;  this  forms  the  shield  to 
Grassy  Ridge  against  denuding  action  on  the  underlying 
slates.  This  upper  layer  is  one  of  our  most  prominent 
landmarks  in  geological  examinations  in  this  part  of  the 
coal  measures  of  Alabama.  Descending  fhe  gentle  slope  of 
Grassy  Ridge  to  its  foot  on  the  southeastern  side,  you  next 
pass  over  a  number  of  beds  of  sandstone  and  gritty  slates 
and  arrive  at  the  Nunnally  seam,  with  a  sandstone  roof ; 
this  seam  contaios  about  two  and  a  half  feet  of  coal. 
Thence,  in  the  direction  of  the  dip,  passing  over  various 
layers  of  sandstone,  slaty  sandstone  and  gritty  slates,  you 
arrive  at  the  Harkness  Double,  or  Poole  seam. 

(For  section  of  Poole  seam,  see  below.) 

Continuing  on  in  the  same  direction,  you  arrive  at  a 
large,  hundred  feet  thick  layer  of  blue  sandstone,  that  is 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :    HENKYELLEN  BASIN.  25 

very  micaceous  ;  this  sandstone  is  a  good  land  mark  to 
guide  in  locating  the  measures  of  this  part  of  the  basin. 
Above  this  you  find  the  15-inch  Rusty  coal  seam,  and  above 
it,  should  be  found  the  Wads  worth.* 

Keeping  your  course  along  the  direction  of  dip,  in  going 
over  the  next  900  feet  of  measures,  you  will  pass  over  the 
outcrop  of  seven  different  seams,  varying  in  thickness  from 
six  inches  to  four  and  a  half  feet.  (See  sections  on  map  for 
details).  You  will  then  arrive  at  a  very  coarse,  massive 
sandstone.  This  is  the  foot  wall,  or  bottom  rock,  of  the 
Mammoth  seam.  This  coarse  sandstone,  in  various  parts 
of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  becomes  a  conglomerate  ;  visibly 
so  at  the  Henryellen  mines  and  at  a  point  close  to  the  Gur- 
nee  mines  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  Cahaba  Field. 

The  Mammoth  seam,  in  the  north  end  of  this  basin,  has 
an  aggregate  thickness  of  over  eleven  feet  of  coal,  and  has 
the  following  section  measured  by  myself: 

*  I  saw  what  I  considered  the  Wadsworth  seam  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  basin,  but  was  not  quite  positive  of  its  identity.  Anyhow,  this 
is  the  proper  position  for  it,  and  I  am  convinced  that  future  explora- 
tions will  expose  it,  yet  it  is  impossible  to  say  what  its  thickness  will 
be.  Near  Helena  the  Wadsworth  is  over  three  feet  in  thickness  and 
makes  a  very  good  coke  for  the  smelting  iron. 


26 


GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 


[Section  of  Mammoth  seam  as  it  shorvs  at  the  test  made  on  a  prong  of  Black 
Creek,  near  the  Rock  Springs  Church,  in  the  north  end  of  the  Henry - 
ellen  basin  in  section  S6,  township  16,  S.,  range  1,  E.  Direction  of 
strike,  N.  E.  and  S.  W.     Direction  of  dip,  S.  E.     Rate  of  dip,  15°]. 


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Southwest  of  this  test,  a  split  takes  place  in  the  Mam- 
moth, dividing  it  into  two  large  seams  or  benches.  At 
Henrjellen  there  are  three  slopes  sunk  on  the  lower  or  five 
foot  seam,  designated  as  No.  1  slope,  No.  2  and  new  No.  3 ; 
the  upper  or  six  foot  seam  they  have  not  begun  to  work 
yet.  This  split  is  very  remarkable  on  account  of  the  very 
white  sandstone  intervening  between  the  two  seams  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Henryellen  ;  the  thickness  of  the  interven- 
ing measures,  including  the  white  sandstone  in  this  vicinity, 
varies  from  three  to  thirty-five  feet.  To  the  southwest  of 
Henryellen   the   intervening   measures    between    the    two 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   HENKYELLEN  BASIN.  27 

benches  increases  in  thickness  to  over  one  hundred  feet  in 
places,  the  sandstone  being  remarkably  white,  and  very 
noticeable  wherever  it  is  seen.  This  split  in  the  Mammoth 
continues  on  down  southwest  to  the  south  end  of  the  Cahaba 
Coal  Field,  the  intervening  measures  between  the  two 
benches  varying  in  thickness  from  thirty-five  feet  in  the 
Henryellen  neighborhood,  to  one  hundred  and  eleven  feet 
at  Helena,  and  to  ten  feet  southwest  of  Gurnee.  The  Black- 
shale  seam  and  Buck  seam  are  the  names  given  to  the  two 
benches  of  the  Mammoth,  near  Helena ;  the  Gholson  and 
Clark  are  the  names  applied  to  the  same  at  Gurnee. 

Continuing  on  from  the  Mammoth  along  the  direction  of 
dip,  and  passing  over  three  hundred  feet  in  thickness  of 
measures,  you  cross  the  outcrop  of  three  thin  seams,  repre- 
sented at  Helena  by  the  Moyle  seam,  the  Little  Pittsburgh, 
and  the  Smith-shop  seams,  you  then  arrive  at  the  Conglom- 
erate or  Thompson  seam,  which  is  here  five  and  a  half  feet 
in  thickness,  but  impure  and  slaty  and  not  workable.  Con- 
tinuing aloDg  in  the  direction  of  the  dip,  passing  over  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of  measures,  you  cross  the  out- 
crop of  one  thin  seam,  and  then  arrive  at  the  Helena  seam, 
divided  into  two  layers  here,  as  it  is  both  in  the  Helena 
basin,  the  Dry  Creek  basin,  and  the  LoUey  basin.  In  the 
Henryellen  basin  the  Helena  seam  is  dcuble,  with  four  feet 
of  sandstone  intervening;  the  lower  layer  contains  three 
feet  of  coal,  and  the  upper  layer  contains  three  feet,  nine 
inches  of  coal ;  the  upper  layer  is  the  one  on  which  the 
Henryellen  Company  sunk  their  old  No.  3  slope,  the  coal 
being  of  excellent  quality. 

About  sixty-five  or  seventy  feet  above  the  Helena  seam  is 
another  seam,  varying  in  thickness  from  two  feet  to  six  feet; 
above  this  seam  there  are  about  a  hundred  feet  of  sand- 
stone and  slaty  sandstone,  between  it  and  the  vertical  fault 
measures.  I  have  made  various  measured  sections  across 
these  vertical  fault  measures,  and  could  recognize  particular 
seams  and  rocks,  but  found  them  in  such  a  crushed,  dis- 
placed condition  that  I  could  never  make  the  sections  match 
the  sections  taken  in  the  regular  measures  of  this  basin ;  in 
the  same  efforts  at  the  south  edge  of  the  Cahaba  Coal 
Field,  I  met  with  similar  results.     When    we    consider   the 


28  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

great  disturbance  that  would  inevitably  follow  the  upthrow 
of  10,000  feet,  and  the  pushing  of  these  measures  up  to  the 
vertical,  we  can  not  reasonably  expect  all  the  seams  to  re- 
tain their  relative  position,  so  that  they  can  all  be  identi- 
fied with  same  seams  in  the  regular  measures  of  the  basin, 
and  even  if  we  could,  the  fact  would  have  no  economic  value 
to  the  miner,  working  the  seams  adjacent,  since  these  ver- 
tical seams  cannot  be  profitably  worked. 

At  the  south  end  of  this  basin,  opposite  DeLoach  & 
Co.'s  grist  mill,  a  steep  dip  of  forty  degrees  to  southeast  in 
the  regular  measures  takes  place,  bringing  additional  Coal 
Measures  to  the  surface  and  exposing  the  Montevallo  seam 
and  the  lower  plates  of  the  Montevallo  Conglomerate, 
which  can  be  seen  on  the  road  from  Birmingham  to  Colum- 
biana. 

At  Henryellen,  the  ledge  of  conglomerate  over  the  Con- 
glomerate seam  shows  itself  at  a  point  north  of  the  com- 
pany's store  and  office,  behind  the  miners'  dwellings.  It 
does  not  show  prominently,  as  it  is  thin ;  the  pebbles  are 
not  abundant,  nor  large,  but  they  are  there.  In  the  Coosa 
Field  southeast  of  that  point,  the  same  plate  of  conglomer- 
ate is  reduced  to  a  thickness  of  two  feet.  In  the  south  end 
of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  this  plate  of  conglomerate  makes 
but  little  better  showing  than  it  does  in  the  Henryellen 
basin.  Thin  plates  of  conglomerate  are  scarcely  ever  uni- 
form in  thickness. 

The  seams  on  the  east  side  of  the  basin,  outcropping 
within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  vertical  faulted  coal  meas- 
ures, are  mostly  irregular  in  thickness,  evidently  the  result 
of  the  immense  upthrow  of  the  boundary  fault.  The  even- 
ness and  regularity  in  the  strike  and  dip  of  the  coal  meas- 
ures of  this  basin  are  extraordinary  ;  I  have  not  noticed  any 
faulty  derangement  in  the  interior  of  the  basin  except  a 
slight  fault  showing  on  section  7,  township  18,  range  1 
west,  on  Suck  Branch  and  Rocky  Branch,  though  the  indi- 
cations were  not  serious  enough  for  me  to  try  and  work  it 
out.  West  of  Suck  Branch,  in  section  12,  close  to  Henry 
B.  Hanna's  house,  is  an  exposure  of  a  seam  of  coal  called 
in  the  neighborhood,  the  Poole  seam,  of  which  the  following 
is  a  section : 


I 
C  AH  ABA   COAL   FIELD  :   HRNRYELLEN  BASIN.  29 

[Poole  seam  in  S.  E.  ^i  of  N.  W.  }/^,  section  12,  township  18,  S.,  range  2, 
W.  Direction  of  strike,  N.  E.  and  S.  W.  Direction  of  dip,  S.  E. 
Rale  of  dip,  5^ J. 

///rs   <fOr  /'/^/ff/^G-    SL/Tf£S     o/^' 
^  f/^C^£S    BLUE     SL/tT^ 

I  fo  Of  2  //^c//£  s  ///J ft  D  CO/JL 

II  f/^c/^cs    COflL 
fz/fs-  cL/J/"  Oft  BoyyofA  sL/rrs 

Sftf/o  sj-of/s 

The  topography  of  the  Henryellen  basin  very  much  re- 
sembles that  of  the  portion  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  near 
Helena. 

The  great  Millstone  Grit  formation,  here  as  well  as  there, 
forms  three  high  prominent  ridges ;  Eocky  Ridge  the  first 
one,  contains  the  lowest  of  the  measures,  the  second  or 
middle  one  is  the  Flat  Ridge  or  Black  Jack  Ridge,  the  third 
one  is  Grassy  Ridge.  These  three  are  continuous  (except 
where  cut  through  by  creeks  and  branches)  all  along  the 
northwest  side,  and  the  northeast  end  of  this  basin.  To 
the  southeast  of  Grassy  Ridge,  and  dividing  the  waters  of 
Far  Black  Creek  from  Middle  Black  Creek,  there  is  another 
high  ridge  that  is  designated  by  the  settlers  in  its  neighbor- 
hood as  Owen's  Mountain.  This  ridge  follows  parallel  with 
Grassy  Ridge  all  along  the  north  end  of  the  basin. 

Dividing  the  waters  of  Middle  Black  Creek  from  the 
waters  of  Near  Black  Creek  is  another  ridge  that  has  the 
name  of  Sandstone  Ridge,  given  it  by  the  settlers.  These 
ridges  form  the  principal  features  in  the  northwest  half  of 
the  Henryellen  basin. 

In  the  southeast  half  of  the  basin  the  ridges  are  generally 
low,  the  land  mostly  undulating ;  the  most  prominent  land 
mark  to  be  seen  from  this  part  of  the  field  being  the  high 
cherty  ridge,  just  outside  of  the  basin,  and  following  par- 
allel with  the  boundary  of  the  coal  field  on  that  side. 

Black  Creek,  with  its  numerous  prongs,  drains  the   north 


30  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

half  of  the  basin  and  empties  into  the  Cahaba  River,  near 
the  Henryellen  Company's  No.  3  slope.  The  southwest 
half  of  the  basin  is  drained  by  the  Cahaba  River  and  its 
tributaries.  In  1883  this  basin  did  not  have  a  single  mine 
opened  in  it  on  any  of  its  seams. 

The  DeBardeleben  Coal  and  Iron  Company  have  three 
slopes  sunk  on  the  lower  bench  of  the  Mammoth,  and  are 
now  mining  coal  with  the  most  approved  machinery  and 
appliances,  under  the  skilful  management  of  Mr.  Samuel  T. 
Brittle,  with  Mr.  Hugh  Howard  as  superintendent.  Two 
railroads,  (the  Georgia  Pacific  and  the  Columbus  and  West- 
ern, or  Central  of  Georgia),  run  through  the  basin  to  con- 
vey away  the  coal,  and  there  is  a  fair  prospect  of  another 
road  very  soon.  The  Macon  and  Birmingham  Company, 
now  building  a  railroad  along  'Possum  Valley  from  Gads- 
den to  Montevallo,  would  develop  by  means  of  lateral 
roads  all  the  southeast  side  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  and 
would  tap  more  available  coal  than  any  railroad  in  the 
State  of  the  same  length.  The  rocks  of  the  vertical  coal 
measures  of  the  boundary  fault  have  the  same  composition 
and  general  appearance  that  they  possess  in  the  interior  of 
the  basin. 

The  measures  of  the  Henryellen  basin,  like  all  our  Ala- 
bama Coal  Measures,  were  evidently  at  one  time  approxi- 
mately level,  the  ferns  and  peat  mosses  of  that  time  in  the 
lakes  and  bogs  of  that  day,  were  then  forming  the  carbon- 
aceous matter  for  our  present  coal  seams.  The  split  in  the 
Mammoth  shows  that  after  the  first  five  feet  or  so  of  the 
coal  had  been  formed  there  was  a  depression  of  the  seam, 
100  feet  deep,  towards  Helena,  which  became  filled  up  with 
white  sand  and  other  materials  from  external  sources  ; 
after  it  had  filled  up  to  a  level  with  the  two  ends,  then  the 
other  portion  of  the  Mammoth  seam  was  formed  on  the 
top  of  it. 

The  present  inclined  position  of  the  formerly  horizontal 
beds  of  the  Henryellen  basin  is  due  to  the  great  fault  or 
upthrow  of  10,000  feet  on  the  south-eastern  boundary  of 
the  basin,  and  to  the  upthrow  of  Jones  Valley,  which  gave 
its  present  dip  to  the  Millstone  Grit  and  other  measures  of 
the  northvvest  side  of  the  basin.     Some   men  look  at  this 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD  :   HENRYELLEN   BASIN.  31 

matter  as  mere  conjecture,  but  they  are  facts,  as  to  the 
correctness  of  which  there  is  no  manner  of  doubt. 

The  rocks  on  the  southeast  side  of  the  basin  have  a 
steeper  rate  of  dip  than  those  on  the  northwest  side  ;  this 
is  in  accordance  with  the  general  law  applicable  to  the 
whole  of  the  Appalachian  region  from  Alabama  to  New 
Tork,  which  was  formulated  by  the  Messrs.  Rogers  long 
ago,  as  results  of  their  surveys  in  Virginia  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  adjacent  states. 

The  method  of  working  the  coal  seam  in  this  basin  hith- 
erto used,  has  been  the  method  termed  by  miners,  "working 
the  seam  on  the  run."  For  description  of  this  and  other 
methods  see  the  last  Chapter. 

The  basin  contains  seatuS  that  are  of  good  quality  for 
domestic  use  ;  others  of  good  quality  for  coking  and  iron 
manufacturing  purposes;  and  others  for  a  first  class  steam 
coal,  so  that  the  three  principal  demands  for  coal  can  be 
supplied  by  this  basin.  The  following  is  an  analysis  of  the 
lower  bench  of  the  Mammoth  seam,  taken  from  a  half 
bushel  sample  from  the  top  to  bottom  of  the  seam  from 
the  Henryellen  Company's  slope  No.  1,  at  Henryellen. 
Analysis  by  J.  L.  Beeson: 

Lower  Bench  of  Mammoth  Seam  at  Henryellen. 

Moislure 1.531 

Volatile  matter 33.785 

ii^'^.';''^°"':::::::;:::::;:::::;:::  lilssi^oke 64.684 

100.000 

Sulphur  in  coal 1.016 

Sulphur  left  in  coke .371 

Per  cent,  of  sulphur  in  coke .574 

The  following  is  an  analysis  of  the  upper  bench  of  the 
Mammoth  seam  taken  from  a  half  bushel  sample  channelled 
out  of  the  seam  from  top  to  bottom.  This  is  all  from  the 
DeBardeleben  Coal  and  Iron  Company's  slope  No.  1,  at 
Henryellen.     Analysis  by  J.  L.  Beeson: 


32  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

Upper  Bench  of  Mammoth  Seam  at  Hemryellen. 

Moisture 1 .526 

Volatile  matter 33.779 

S^.'.'!'^°^\\\\\'::.:::::::::::::::  niiil  ^oke 64.695 

100.000 

Sulphur  in  coal 1.057 

Sulphur  in  coke .509 

Per  cent,  of  sulphur  in  coke .787 

By  referring  to  the  map  accompanying  this  report,  the 
location  of  the  three  horizontal  sections  are  shown  by  dot- 
ted lines  across  this  basin;  the  Adkins  section  in  the  north 
end  of  basin  from  "A"  to  "B" ;  the  Henryellen  section  in 
the  middle  of  the  basin  from  "C"  to  "D";  the  DeShazo  sec- 
tion in  the  south  end  of  the  basin  from  "E"  to  "F".  These 
all  show  the  great  disparity  between  the  amount  of  coal 
measures  in  the  fault  vertical  coal  measures,  and  the 
measures  of  the  interior  of  the  basin,  demonstrating  that 
it  is  utterly  impossible  for  the  fault  vertical  coal  measures 
to  be  a  mere  plication  such  as  we  find  in  the  basins  of  the 
anthracite  coal  field  in  Pennsylvania.  The  accompanying 
map  gives  the  form  of  the  Henryellen  basin  as  accurately 
as  it  could  be  made  without  taking  the  transit  and  chain 
and  surveying  the  meanders  of  the  boundary ;  the  seams 
are  also  located  as  accurately  as  could  be  done  without 
making  a  special  instrumental  measurement  and  location 
of  each  outcrop. 

These  methods  are  always  used  by  mining  companys  in 
making  tne  special  surveys  of  their  property,  preparatory 
to  mining  development,  since  the  success  of  their  enterprise 
depends  largely  on  the  accuracy  of  the  survey  and  exami- 
nation ;  in  fact,  capital  can  not  be  safely  invested  in  our 
coal  mining  operations  without  first  making  these  special 
surveys  with  all  the  aids  that  modern  science  can  give  for 
the  purpose  of  acquiring  a  full  knowledge  of  the  location 
and  condition  of  the  minerals  to  be  mined.  In  my  exami- 
nation, on  the  other  hand,  the  area  was  too  extensive  to 
allow  me  to  accomplish  all  these  details,  and  in  view  of  the 
fact,  that  in  some  days  of  these  examinations,  a  human  face 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :   HENRYELLEN  BASIN.  33 

was  not  visible  to  me  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  of  the 
sun,  when  the  only  guide  to  my  location  was  the  forms  of 
the  creeks  and  branches,  or  my  apparent  distance  from 
some  distant  mountain  of  known  location,  it  will  easily  be 
understood  that  absolute  accuracy  of  location  of  outcrops 
was  impossible  witliout  costly  instrumental  surveys.  Even 
in  thickly  settled  regions  it  is  often  impossible  to  get  a  sec- 
tion corner  pointed  out,  since  even  at  best,  only  a  small 
percentage  of  the  inhabitants  have  any  knowledge  of  these 
land  marks,  and  where  the  ownerships  have  remained  for 
a  long  time  unchanged,  these  corners  are  frequently  lost 
sight  of  entirely.  For  these  reasons  the  section  corners 
have  not  been  often  referred  to. 

In  the  Henryellen  vertical  section  on  the  map,  the  seams 
shown  are  those  that  I  saw  or  dug  to  and  found  ;  the  three 
horizontal  sections  above  mentioned  on  said  map,  showing 
the  Coal  measures  at  three  different  points,  and  stretching 
across  the  Henryellen  basin,  represent  the  seams  of  coal 
that  I  either  actually  saw,  or  identified  by  the  characteris- 
tic rocks  that  are  near  to  and  associated  with  them.  Some 
of  them  I  dug  to,  without  making  a  thorough  test,  to  con- 
vince myself  of  their  identity  with  the  seams  in  the  same 
relative  position  in  other  parts  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field, 
and  to  note  their  peculiarities.  I  would  then  abandon  the 
test  without  obtaining  a  full  section  of  seam,  in  order  to 
give  more  time  to  forming  the  general  sections,  and  locating 
the  seams,  considering  that  this  result  would  meet  the  de- 
mands of  the  people  of  Alabama  better  than  a  number  of 
disconnected  details.  The  extent  of  the  work  made  it  com- 
pulsory on  me  to  shun  details  and  economize  time  as  well 
as  expense,  so  as  to  obtain  the  most  knowledge  of  the  Ca- 
haba field  with  the  least  outlay.  In  many  cases,  however, 
I  made  very  accurate  locations  of  many  of  the  seams  shown 
on  the  accompanying  map,  by  taking  the  transit  and  chain 
in  the  one  hand,  and  pick  and  shovel  in  the  other,  and 
making  the  one  locate  what  the  other  brought  to  light, 
thus  giving  me  a  base  line  on  which  to  locate  the  others  by 
reconnoitering  and  computation  of  their  relative  distances. 
This  shunning  of  the  details  required  an  effort  on  my  part, 
3 


34 


GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 


as  my  work  in  the  past  had  been  largely  in  making  special 
accurate  surveys  preparatory  to  the  opening  of  mines  and 
the  investment  of  capital ;  so  if  the  reader  chooses  to  find 
fault  about  the  accuracy  of  the  geological  examinations,  I 
shall  beg  he  will  excuse  me,  not  on  the  ground  of  inability, 
but  on  the  ground  of  lack  of  time  and  means. 

The  seams  of  this  basin  vary  in  size,  condition  and  sur- 
roundings, but  not  more  so  than  they  do  ordinarily  in  other 
coal  fields.  Some  are  larger  here  than  they  are  in  other 
parts  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  while  others  are  smaller. 
I  give  below  two  measured  sections  of  the  Little  Pittsburgh 
seam  at  different  localities. 

[Little   Pittsburgh  seam,  on  Adkins  Spring  Branch,  in  section  36,  town- 
ship 16,  range  1  east]: 


I  fooj  ^i/^c/^ES  CO/RL 
Boyyo/vt    sL/tje. 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   HENRYELLEN  BASIN.  35 

[Little  Pittsburgh   seam,  in   section   19,  township   18,  S.,  range  1,  west]: 


Sl/i^Y       'S/r//osj-o/^£^ 


S/^EEj-    ^piTT^  ^L/1T^ 


I  r°°T  ^  f/^c^£s    CO/JL 


=.    z  r^^T  sL/JTY    s/J^DSjro/\f£ 


ZfEEiy   Co/fL 


/^tpE-  CL/>f 


At  Henryellen,  the  old  No.  3  slope  was  sunk  on  the  upper 
bench  of  the  Helena  seam.  I  did  not  have  the  opportunity 
of  seeing  it,  but  Mr.  Howard,  the  superintendent,  gave  me 
the  following  sections  : 

Sandstone  roof. 

3  feet  9  inches  coal.    The  slope  was  in  this  bench. 

4  feet  sandstone. 
3  feet  coal. 
Fireclay. 

A  measured  section  of  the  Helena  seam  in  section  26, 
township  16,  range  1  east,  is  as  follows : 


36  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

[McGill   or  Helena  seam,  in   section  S6,  township   16,  S.,  range  1,  east]: 

CO/7L 

lO  IfJof/ES    BlOfStf    SLfff£ 

Near  Helena  is  a  seam  that  outcrops  under  the  pump 
that  supplies  the  coke  ovens  with  water,  and  named  in  con- 
sequence the  Pump  Seam,  and  the  following  is  a  measured 
section  of  the  same  seam  in  section  26,  township  16,  range 
1  east,  in  the  Henryellen  basin: 

XFump  seam,  {under  Mammoth,)  in  section  26,  township   16,  S.,  range   1, 
east]: 


Z  fEEJ-    9//^C/^ES    COflL 

I  fooj  6 //^c^es   5LpyE 

I  fOOJ    9  l/^Cf^ES    CO/JL 


The  Henryellen  basin  contains  an  aggregate  of  good 
workable  coal  of  881,000,000  of  tons  of  2,000  pounds.  My 
computation  and  estimates  were  made  on  the  basis  of  in- 
cluding all  coal  of  two  feet  in  thickness  and  upwards,  and 
all  within  forty-two  hundred  feet  in  vertical  depth,  but  I 
have  made  no  allowance  for  loss  or  waste  in  pillars  or 
otherwise,  in  mining. 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   HENRYELLEN  BASIN.  37 

The  surface  area  of  the  basin  is  one  hundred  and  nine- 
teen square  miles.  The  most  valuable  portion  of  the  basin 
is  on  the  southeast  side  ;  a  large  amount  of  the  northwest- 
ern portion,  occupied  by  Shades'  Mountain,  or  Rocky 
Ridge,  and  Black  Jack  Ridge,  contains  no  seam  but  the 
Brock  and  another  thin  seam,  and  as  yet  I  have  never  seen 
them  of  workable  size  in  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  though 
the  same  seams  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  Warrior 
Field  and  in  Tennessee  hold  four  feet  and  over  of  good 
coal. 

For  a  fuller  description  of  the  rocks  of  the  Henryellen 
basin,  see  vertical  section  on  accompanying  map,  also  Chap- 
ter I,  giving  a  general  description  of  all  the  prominent 
ledges  in  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field.  For  description  of  the 
territory  surrounding  the  Henryellen  basin  see  introductory 
chapter. 

The  measures  of  this  basin  have  a  varying  rate  of  dip. 
That  portion  of  it  occupied  by  the  Millstone  Grit  shows  a 
rate  of  dip  generally  of  from  nine  to  twelve  degrees  ;  the 
measures  in  sections  6,  7,  8  and  18,  in  township  16,  range 
2  east,  are  nearly  flat  or  level ;  also  in  sections  13  and  24, 
township  16,  range  1  east,  they  are  nearly  flat ;  the  strata  of 
other  parts  of  the  basin  have  mostly  a  rate  of  dip  varying 
from  five  degrees  to  twenty-seven  without  taking  into  ac- 
count the  fault  vertical  coal  measures  of  the  southeast 
boundary. 

The  Coal  Measures  of  the  Henryellen  basin  have  a  thick- 
ness of  five  thousand  feet.  In  the  southern  portion  of  the 
basin  the  thickness  is  a  little  over  that  amount,  or  nearly 
one  mile,  counting  from  the  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit  up 
to  the  top  of  the  highest  strata  of  the  Coal  Measures  in  the 
basin. 

The  following  analysis  of  coke  made  from  the  coal  of  the 
Mammoth  seam  at  DeBardeleben  Coal  &  Iron  Company's 
Mines,  at  Henryellen,  was  made  by  Alfred  E.  Brainerd, 
chemist,  Birmingham  : 


38  GEOLOGICAL  StRVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

Coke  from  a  Car  Load  Lot. 

Moisture 0.300 

Volatile 3.360 

Fixed  carbon 84.987 

Sulphur 0.723 

Ash 10.630 


100.000 


Analysis  of  the  above  Ash  from  the  llammoth  Coke  by  Alfred 

F.  Brainerd. 

Silica 5.000 

Alumina 3.500 

Oxide  Iron 1.921 

Lime 0.004 

Magnesia 0.003 

Sulphur  in  Ash 0,0002 

10.4282 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  ACTON  BASIN. 


The  Acton  Basin  at  its  northeast  boundary  joins  the  Hen- 
ryellen  basin,  and  on  its  southwest  boundary  joins  the 
Helena  basin  and  the  Cahaba  basin. 

The  principal  wagon  roads  in  this  basin  are  the  following  : 
the  road  along  'Possum  Valley  (part  of  it  is  a  settlement 
road),  and  the  Birmingham  road  that  leaves  the  Cahaba 
Valley  road  at  Bishop's  Mill  and  the  Wilson  place,  crossing 
the  Cahaba  river  at  the  Bain  Ford,  passing  through  the 
Mat  Patton  place,  by  Mrs.  Bailey's  house,  where  the  meas- 
ures form  a  synclinal,  and  crossing  Shades  Mountain  about 
two  and  half  miles  northeast  of  Oxmoor,  thence  on  to  Bir- 
mingham. Another  road  leaves  the  'Possum  Valley  road  at 
William  Roy's  place,  crossing  the  Cahaba  river  at  the  Hub- 
bard Ford,  thence  on  to  the  top  of  Shades  Mountain,  and 
passing  down  its  northwest  side  to  Oxmoor,  thence  on  to 
Ely  ton  and  Birmingham.  Another  wagon  road  leaves  the 
Cahaba  Valley  road  a  half  a  mile  above  Isaac  Johnson's 
house,  going  almost  due  north  by  Caldwell's  mill  and  Wat- 
kin's  Gap  to  Birmingham. 

The  area  of  the  Acton  Basin  is  forty  two  square  miles. 
It  is  drained  by  the  Cahaba  River  and  its  tributaries  ;  Pat- 
ton's  creek  and  its  various  prongs  on  the  west  side  of  basin, 
and  by  Acton's  Mill  Creek,  Coal  Branch  and  other  short 
branches  emptying  into  the  Cahaba  River  on  the  southeast 
side  of  basin. 

This  basin  is  not  a  simple  synclinal  ;  but  consists  of  two 
synclinals  with  an  anticlinal  between  in  its  northern  end 
(opposite  Oxmoor)  ;  the  result  being  a  widening  of  the  basin 
at  this  point,  (see  accompanying  map).  The  boundary  of 
this  basin  may  be  described  as  follows  :  Leaving  the  L.  <fc 
N.  railroad  at  Brock's  Station  (near  Brock's  Gap)  and  going 
due  east  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  to  the  base  of  the 


40  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

Millstone  Grit,  and  following  this,  the  course  is  first  north 
by  a  few  degrees  east,  along  Shades  Mountain,  keeping 
Shades  Creek  aLd  the  L.  and  N.  railroad  in  view  on  the  left 
all  along,  passing  the  large  peach  orchard  owned  by  Mr. 
Howell  of  Cincinnati,  and  leaving  the  John  McClintock 
house  to  the  right  of  the  course.  In  the  southeast  of 
section  21,  townshp  19,  range  3  west,  the  course  changes 
nearly  due  north  along  the  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit,  the 
Judge  Morrow  orchard  and  vineyard  lying  distance  to  the 
right ;  this  course  is  followed  up  to  the  Hale  place.  Here 
Shades  Mountain  changes  direction  ;  and  our  course  is 
thence  northeast  passing  Oxmoor,  with  its  furnaces  on  the 
left,  in  plain  view  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  a  busy  little 
iron  manufacturing  town.  This  northeast  course  continues 
along  the  Millstone  Grit  to  the  middle  of  section  20,  town- 
ship 18,  range  two  west ;  here  the  rocks  are  found  in  irreg- 
ular position,  the  ridges  more  disturbed  and  broken,  and 
the  topography  more  out  of  its  usual  shape  by  reason  of 
the  change  of  dip  between  the  Henryellen  and  Acton  ba- 
sins. We  go  thence  southeast  along  the  boundary  between 
this  and  the  Henryellen  basin  through  the  middle  of  section 
28 ;  thence  through  the  middle  of  the  north  half  of  section 
34 ;  thence  through  the  middle  of  the  south  half  of  section 
35,  all  in  township  18,  range  2  west,  crossing  Cahaba  River 
at  the  west  side  of  section  35  ;  thence  to  the  Methodist 
church  near  Mr.  Bragg's  in  'Possum  Valley  at  the  great 
boundary  fault  that  separates  the  Cambrian  from  the  Car- 
boniferous. The  high  cherty  ridge  on  the  southwest  side  of 
'Possum  Valley  here  acquires  the  name  of  New  Hope 
Mountain.  Here  the  course  is  changed  to  the  southwest, 
keeping  along  the  fault  at  the  edge  of  the  Coal  Field,  and 
along  'Possum  Valley,  passing  close  by  the  Dave  Lowry 
house,  about  half  a  mile  from  the  top  of  New  Hope  Moun- 
tain ;  also  close  by  Hens.  Bailey's  house,  with  Hale  Bailey's 
a  short  distance  to  the  left ;  thence  along  the  edge  of  the 
fault  to  half  mile  post  on  the  north  side  of  section  2, 
township  20,  range  3  west ;  thence  northwest  to  Cahaba 
River,  opposite  mouth  of  the  Bailey  Branch,  crossing  the 
Cahaba  River  at  this  point ;  thence  up  the  Bailey  Bi-anch 
in  a  northwest  direction  to   the  half  mile  post  on  the  west 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD:   ACTON   BASIN.  41 

side  of  section  28,  township  19,  range  3,  west,  the  point  of 
beginning. 

The  most  prominent  ridge  in  this  basin  is  the  Shades 
Mountain  on  the  northwest  side  of  the  basin.  Shades 
Mountain,  as  already  stated,  is  formed  chiefly  of  the  lower 
portion  of  the  Millstone  Grit  formation.  The  northwest 
side  of  it  can  be  plainly  seen  from  the  L.  &  N.  railroad  at 
almost  any  point  from  Brock's  Gap  in  Shades  Mountain,  to 
Grace's  Gap  in  Red  Mountain,  the  Millstone  Grit  forming 
high  perpendicular  cliffs  near  the  top  of  the  mountain  on 
its  northwest  side,  displaying  the  grandeur  of  nature's 
handiwork  to  the  thousands  travelling  along  the  railroad 
in  the  valley.  Shades  Mountain  on  its  southeast  side  forms 
a  long  gradual  slope  descending  to  the  slaty  valley  between 
it  and  Pine  Ridge,  the  slope  being  more  gentle  and  gradual 
in  the  north  end  of  the  basin  than  it  is  in  the  southern 
portion. 

Pine  Ridge  is  the  next  prominent  ridge  in  importance 
and  follows  nearly  parallel  with  Shades  Mountain  (on  its 
southeast  side),  the  distance  from  the  top  of  one  to  the 
other  varying  from  half  a  mile  at  the  south  end  to  a  mile 
at  the  north  end  of  the  basin.  The  valley  between  the  two 
is  mostly  gritty  slate,  the  rocks  forming  the  base  of  Pine 
Ridge  being  also  gritty  slates  and  slaty  sandstones,  the  cap 
or  shield  of  the  ridge  being  a  thick  ledge  of  the  Millstone 
Grit  formation  ;  in  a  few  places  Pine  Ridge  becomes  as  high 
as  Shades  Mountain. 

The  next  ridge  of  importance  is  the  Red  Ridge  ;  this 
ridge  is  southeast  of  Pine  Ridge  and  follows  along  nearly 
parallel  with  it,  the  Gould  seam  with  its  under  and  over- 
lying immense  thickness  of  gritty  slates,  occupying  the 
valley  between  the  two  ;  the  cap  or  shield  of  Red  Ridge  is 
the  upper  portion  of  the  Millstone  Grit  formation  ;  these 
three  ridges  are  continuous  along  the  northwestern  side  of 
this  basin. 

The  next  ridg^  in  importance  is  a  short  distance  outside 
of  the  southeast  boundary  of  the  basin,  following  along  the 
southeast  side  of  'Possum  Valley  ;  this  is  the  high  cherty 
ridge  that  is  given  the  name  (by  the  settlers  along  it)  of 
New  Hope  Mountain.     It  intersects  the  South  and  North 


42  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

Alabama  Railroad  about  half-way  between  Helena  and  Pel- 
ham,  the  railroad  going  through  a  gap  cut  by  Buck  Creek 
in  said  mountain. 

Various  smaller  ridges  are  formed  in  that  part  of  the 
basin  known  as  the  Acton  settlement,  but  they  are  mostly 
not  continuous  like  those  just  described,  their  general  trend 
is  along  the  strike  of  the  seams  and  parallel  with  their  out- 
crops. The  Cahaba  river  also,  in  one  part  of  this  basin,  in 
its  general  course,  keeps  along  the  strike  of  the  seams,  fol- 
lowing the  outcrops  and  slates  until  it  reaches  within  a  half 
a  mile  of  the  southeast  boundary  of  the  Coal  Field,  a  point 
in  section  20,  township  19,  range  2  west.  It  then  makes  a 
turn  away  from  the  southeast  boundary  again. 

The  location  of  the  synclinal  and  anticlinal  in  the  northern 
part  of  this  basin  can  be  best  understood  by  referring  to 
the  accompanying  map  ;  on  the  ground,  both  can  be  seen  on 
the  road  from  Bain's  Ferry  to  Birmingham,  close  to  Mrs- 
Thomas  N.  Bailey's  house.  The  other  synclinal  next  to  the 
southeast  edge  of  the  basin  can  be  seen  along  the  same 
road  at  a  point  about  a  mile  south  of  Bain's  Ferry  or  Ford. 
On  the  accompanying  map  the  Acton  horizontal  section 
from  "C"  to  "H"  will  show  the  relative  position,  outcrops, 
and  form  of  the  synclinal  and  anticlinal  of  this  basin. 

The  Brock  and  the  Gould  seams  having  a  very  low  rate 
of  dip,  become  level  in  the  anticlinal  between  the  Mat 
Patton  place  and  the  Mrs.  Bailey  place,  then  descending 
into  the  main  part  of  the  basin,  the  ledges  of  conglomerate 
above  the  Conglomerate  seam  show  on  both  sides  of  the 
basin  along  the  wagon  road  between  Bain's  Ford  and  the 
Tom  F.  Bailey  place  at  the  edge  of  the  Coal  Field. 

There  has  been  no  mining  for  coal  in  this  basin  up  to 
this  date,  except  two  or  three  test  slopes  to  prove  the 
seams  ;  but  when  the  basin  becomes  opened  up  by  railroads 
its  coal  seams  will  undoubtedly  be  developed. 

The  Eureka  Company's  test  slope  seam,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  a  section  near  the  surface,  ('but  I  am  told  it  be- 
comes thicker  at  some  depth,)  is  a  seam  of  good  coal  and 
can  be  worked  profitably. 


CASABA  COAL  FIELD  :  ACTON  BASIN. 


43 


[Eureka  Company's  slope  seam  in  section  IS,  township  19,  S.,  range  3, 
W.:  rate  of  dip  Sl°]. 


Hr. -"  ^L/JJ-y'    S/7A/oSJ-0/V£ 


SfEET^'^'^M^^  C^/9Z  ofGooo  9t//iLiTr' 


f^/Tflo     BojTO/^    sl/jj-e 


Some  of  the  other  seams  are  in  good  condition  for  work- 
ing ;  the  Conglomerate  seam  is  larger  and  better  in  this 
basin  than  it  is  at  Helena.  The  Acton  seam  is  large  but 
rather  impure  ;  the  following  is  a  section  of  it : 

{Acton  seam   in  section  18,  lownshtp  19,  S.,  range  2,  W\. 


2.  f=-E£f   JO^J/\/c/^£S    CO/=lL    /// 
O  //Vc/Z^fS  ///f/JO    Bo/^y    coffi- 


On  the  wagon  road  from  Caldwell'  Grist  Mill  by  Wat- 
kin's  Gap  to  Birmingham,  at  a  point  about  half  a  mile 
above  Caldwell's  Mill,  can  be  seen  the  flat  measures  of  the 
anticlinal  part  of  the  basin.  To  the  south  of  said  mill 
about  three-qurrters  of  a  mile,  the  measures  have  a  rate  of 
dip  of  twenty  degrees.  The  change  in  the  rate  of  dip  can 
be  seen  more  plainly  along  the  wagon  road  from  Bishop's 
Mill  to  Birmingham ;  the  measures  becoming  more  steep  as 
you  approach  the  southeast  boundary  of  the  basin,  in  a 
similar  way  to  the  measures  in  the  south  end  of  the  Henry- 


44  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

ellen  basin.  The  Cambrian  measures  on  the  southeast  side 
are  the  same  as  those  surrounding  the  southeast  side  of  the 
Henrjellen  basin. 

The  xVcton  basin  is  due  south  from  Birmingham ;  a  line 
from  the  Union  depot,  Birmingham,  running  due  south, 
would  cross  the  top  of  Ked  Mountain  at  a  distance  of  two 
miles,  and  intersect  the  first  seam  of  the  basin  (the  Brock 
seam)  at  a  distance  of  five  miles ;  said  line  continued  due 
south  would  reach  the  southeast  boundary  of  the  Acton 
basin  at  W.  Y.  Jones'  place  in  'Possum  Valley,  at  a  distance 
from  the  Union  depot  of  eleven  and  a  half  miles.  This  due 
south  line  would  follow  very  close,  almost  parallel  with  the 
public  road  that  leaves  Cahaba  Valley  at  Bishop's  Mill, 
crossing  Cahaba  river  at  Bain's  Ford  and  leads  to  Birming- 
ham. 

For  relative  positions  of  the  seams  of  this  basin,  see  the 
Acton  Horizontal  Section  from  "G"  to  "H,"  and  the /Sow^/i 
and  North  Railroad  Vertical  Sections,  both  on  the  accom- 
panying map.  The  prominent  rocks  exposed  in  this  basin 
are  very  similar  to  those  described  in  the  Henryellen  basin. 
Commencing  at  the  Millstone  Grit  on  the  northwest  side  of 
Shades  Mountain  and  ascending  in  the  measures  by  going 
southeast,  you  will  find  an  immense  ledge  of  the  Millstone 
Grit,  forming  all  the  upper  part  of  the  top  of  the  mountain 
and  all  the  southeast  side  of  Shades  Mountain.  After 
passing  over  this,  you  will  find  a  thick  bed  of  gritty  slate 
with  a  thin  seam  imbedded  in  it,  occupying  the  valley  be- 
tween Shades  Mountain  and  Pine  Ridge.  The  next  ridge 
(or  Pine  Bidge)  southeast  of  Shades  Mountain  has  a  heavy 
ledge  of  the  white  sandstone  of  the  Millstone  Grit  forma- 
tion, for  a  cap  rock  or  shield ;  this  also  underlies  the  soil  on 
the  southeast  side.  Descending  Pine  Ridge  on  the  south- 
east side  you  will  arrive  at  the  immense  beds  of  gritty  slate 
that  underlies  the  Gould  seam.  After  passing  over  the 
Gould  seam  you  arrive  at  the  large  bed  of  gritty  slate  and 
slaty  sandstone  that  overlies  the  Gould  seam  ;  these  gritty 
slates  occupy  almost  the  whole  of  the  Gould  Valley,  except- 
ing a  few  thin  ledges  of  pink  and  red  sandstones.  On  the 
southeast  side  of  this  valley  is  Red  or  Chestnut  Ridge  ;  this 
is  capped  with  the  upper  layer  of  the  white  sandstone  of 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :  ACTON   BASIN.  45 

the  Millstone  Grit  formation.  This  cap  or  shield  forms  the 
rocks  of  the  southeast  slope  of  the  Red  Ridge,  descending 
into  the  synclinal  valley  in  the  north  part  of  the  basin  and 
ascending  again  in  the  anticlinal  farther  southeast.  Arriv- 
ing at  this  point,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  micaceous  sand- 
stones and  slates  overlying  the  Millstone  Grit  begin  to  ap- 
pear, making  the  upper  part  of  the  Millstone  Grit  a  good 
guide  to  assist  in  identifying  the  upper  coal  measures. 
After  passing  over  various  layers  of  sandstone,  slaty  sand- 
stone, and  gritty  slate  with  the  Nunnally  seam,  the  "  Five 
Group,"  and  the  Harkness  seam  imbedded  in  them,  we  ar- 
rive at  the  large  one  hundred  feet  ledge  of  blue  micaceous 
sandstone.  This  sandstone  is  very  micaceous  and  is  a  great 
landmark  in  the  identifying  of  the  accompanying  coal 
seams.  Overlying  this  blue  micaceous  sandstone  is  the 
Martin  seam,  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of  lam- 
inated sandstone  interlarded  with  thin  layers  of  hard  block 
sandstone,  some  of  it  breaking  out  in  square  blocks.  Above 
this  is  the  Whetrock  seam  and  the  overlying  Wadsworth 
seam,  and  above  and  including  the  two  just  named  is  the 
whole  productive  group  of  seams  up  to  the  Helena  seam. 

In  the  northeast  corner  of  section  18,  township  19,  range 
2  west,  I  found  some  irregularities  of  the  measures,  with 
indications,  however,  that  the  fault  was  local,  or  not  very 
extensive.  I  did  not  ascertain  the  extent  of  it,  considering 
at  the  time  that  it  did  not  merit  a   thorough   investigation. 

The  rate  of  dip  of  the  rocks  of  this  basin  varies  from 
30  Qj.  ^o  jjj  ^}jg  north  part  of  the  basin  on  the  Shades  Moun- 
tain side,  up  to  85-  on  the  southeast  side  of  the  basin  adja- 
cent to  the  great  boundary  fault. 

In  the  southwest  corner  of  the  southwest  quarter  of  sec- 
tion 8,  township  19,  range  2  west,  near  the  Samuel  Acton's 
house,  the  rate  of  dip  was  found  to  be  7°. 

On  the  Mad.  Acton  land  in  the  southwest  quarter  of  the 
northeast  quarter  of  section  18,  township  19,  range  2  west, 

1  found  the  rate  of  dip  to  be  15°. 

In  the  southeast  corner  of  section  18,  township  19,  range 

2  west,  on  the  T.  J.  Winfield  land,  found  the  rate  of  dip  to 
be  19°.  On  the  Acton  seam  close  by,  the  rate  of  dip  was 
21°  ;  on  the  Mrs.  Jane  Acton  land  in  section  20,  township 


46  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

19,  range  2  west,  the  rate  of  dip  was  25° ;  in  the  northwest 
quarter  of  the  northwest  quarter  of  section  36,  township  19, 
range  2  west,  on  the  J.  S.  Jones'  land,  the  direction  of  dip 
is  northwest,  and  the  rate  of  dip  80^.  This  steep  dip  is 
evidently  caused  by  the  great  upthrow  of  the  boundary 
fault  that  is  in  close  proximity  at  this  point.  The  most 
level  point  of  this  basin  is  that  occupied  by  the  synclinal 
and  anticlinal  in  the  north  portion  of  the  basin.  The  Acton 
basin  is  eight  and  a  half  miles  in  length  by  nearly  five 
miles  in  average  width,  and  contains  an  area  of  forty-two 
square  miles.  The  amount  of  good  workable  coal  in  it,  in 
seams  of  two  feet  thickness  and  upwards,  and  less  than 
three  thousand  six  hundred  feet  in  depth,  is  from  careful 
computation  143,000,000  tons  net,  making  no  allowance  for 
waste  in  mining,  loss  in  pillars,  etc.;  but  this  represents  the 
gross  amount  of  coal  in  the  ground. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  HELENA  BASIN. 

The  Helena  Basin  is  situated  west  and  north  of  the  town 
of  Helena,  and  is  on  both  sides  of  the  South  and  North 
Alabama  Eailroad  ;  the  greater  part  being  on  the  north- 
east side  of  the  said  railroad.  This  basiu  is  bounded  on 
its  northwest  side  by  the  Interior  fault  and  the  Cahaba 
basin  ;  on  its  northeast  end  by  the  Acton  basin  ;  on  its 
southeast  side  by  the  great  boundary  fault  and  'Possum 
Valley ;  on  its  southwest  end  by  the  Eureka  Basin.  The 
length  of  this  basin  is  three  and  one-fourth  miles,  by  an 
average  width  of  three-quarters  of  a  mile.  The  following 
is  a  description  of  its  boundary :  Commencing  on  the 
South  and  North  Alabama  railroad,  at  a  point  fifty  yards 
east  of  the  Squire  house,  at  Helena ;  thence  at  a  bearing  of 
S.  10^  W.  about  half  a  mile,  to  a  point  a  little  north  of  the 
Helena  school  building  ;  thence,  at  a  bearing  of  N.  GO'^  W., 
a  distance  of  one  mile,  passing  to  the  left  of  the  Holsomback 
log  house  in  the  ridge  depression  on  your  way  and  arriving 
at  a  point  two  hundred  yards  northeast  of  the  forks  of  the 
Tuscaloosa  and  Birmingham  wagon  roads,  the  one  fork 
leading  to  Lacey's  Ford  and  Birmingham,  the  other  leading 
to  the  Lainey  Ford  and  on  to  Tuscaloosa,  both  fords  being 
on  Cahaba  Kiver.  You  have^  now  arrived  at  the  interior 
fault,  the  vertical  measures  of  which  are  here  six  hundred 
yards  across.  This  fault  forms  the  northwest  side  of  the 
Helena  Basin.  Thence  along  the  southeast  edge  of  the 
fault  at  an  average  bearing  N.  38°  E.,  crossing  the  South 
and  North  railroad  at  the  switch  of  the  north  "Y"  near 
Tacoa  depot,  passing  through  sections  sixteen,  nine,  ten, 
three  and  two,  all  in  township  twenty,  range  three  west,  and 
continuing  along  the  southeast  edge  of  the  fault,  to  the 
point  where  the  interior  fault  joins  the  great  boundary  fault 
in  section   two ;  thence  at  a  bearing   of  about   S.  30°  W., 


48  GEOLOGICAL  SUEVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

along  the  great  boundary  fault,  on  the  west  side  of  'Possum 
Valley,  to  the  point  of  commencement  on  the  South  and 
North  Alabama  railroad  at  Helena.  I  have  made  a  more 
thorough  survey  and  examination  of  this  basin  than  any 
other  one  in  this  coal  field,  using  the  Wye  level,  tue  Abney 
level,  the  barometer,  transit  and  chain,  very  liberally  ;  be- 
sides making  an  immense  number  of  test  pits  with  the  pick 
and  shovel. 

The  wagon  roads  of  this  basin  are  the  following :  There 
is  one  at  the  north  end  of  basin  that  passes  over  it  for  a 
short  distance ;  this  leaves  the  Ashville  and  Helena  public 
road  at  William  Roy's  house,  crosses  Cahaba  River  at  the 
Hubbard  Ford,  thence  on  by  Oxmoor  to  Birmingham.  An- 
other road  leaves  the  Helena  and  Ashville  road  opposite 
the  colored  Baptist  church  at  Helena,  goes  on  across  the 
basin  to  the  Cahaba  Mines  old  slope,  and  to  the  McClendon 
and  the  DriscoU  farms.  Another  road  leaves  the  Helena 
and  Lacey  Ford  road,  and  goes  on  to  the  Cahaba  old  slope. 
A  trail  or  bridle  path  leaves  the  Maiden  Roy  house  and 
goes  on  to  the  Cahaba  old  slope  at  the  L.  and  N.  company's 
bridges  over  Cahaba  River. 

The  South  and  North  Division  of  the  LouisvillQ  system 
crosses  this  basin  northwest  of  Helena. 

The  Gurnee  and  Blocton  Branch  of  the  Birmingham 
Mineral  railroad  also  runs  through  a  part  of  this  basin  and 
joins  South  and  North  near  the  Scott  bridge,  or  bridge  71. 

The  Eureka's  railroad  to  their  coke  ovens  and  mines, 
also  runs  through  about  three-fourths  mile  of  this  basin, 
joining  the  South  and  North  railroad  near  the  Scott  Bridge 
at  north  "Y"  of  Birmingham  Mineral,  or  Tacoa  depot. 
That  portion  of  this  basin  situated  in  sections  fifteen  and 
sixteen,  is  so  disturbed  by  cross  faults  hitches  and  distor- 
tion of  the  measures,  that  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  make 
a  profitable  investment  in  mining  in  that  area,  though  two- 
thirds  of  the  basin  (that  part  beyond  the  cross-fault  noith 
of  the  South  and  North  railroad)  are  very  regular  and  can 
be  worked  profitably.  After  leaving  the  South  and  North 
railroad  going  northeast,  and  advancing  along  the  strike 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  you  will  find  the  measures  dis- 
turbed by  a  cross  fault.     Passing  this  cross  fault,  and  con- 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   HELENA  BASIN.  49 

tinuing  thence  along  the  outcrop  of  the  seams  you  will  pro- 
ceed for  nearly  two  miles  on  measures  that  have  an  un- 
broken regularity,  but  at  the  north  end  the  outcrops  curve 
around  in  a  shape  much  like  a  fish  hook,  as  shown  on  the 
accompanying  map ;  this  portion  of  the  basin  lies  very  reg- 
ular and  is  well  worth  the  attention  of  the  capitalist  and 
miner.  The  measures  in  the  southwest  end  of  this  basin 
also  curve  around  in  the  same  fish  hook  form  that  they 
have  at  the  northeast  end,  as  shown  by  the  outcrops  of  the 
Helena  and  conglomerate  seams  on  the  accompanying  map. 
The  outcrops  at  both  ends  of  the  basin  were  located  by  a 
special  instrumental  survey  by  myself. 

The  causes  resulting  in  the  disturbances  and  irregularity 
in  the  measures  of  this  basin  are  discussed  in  chapter  I, 
giving  the  general  description  of  the  whole  field.  Most  of 
the  outcrops  of  the  seams  of  this  basin  have  been  carefully 
surveyed,  measurements  made,  staked  off  accurately  on  the 
surface,  and  afterwards  carefully  platted  by  scale  on  a  map, 
of  which  that  portion  of  the  accompanying  map  describing 
this  basin,  is  the  reduced  representation. 

The  great  reduction  has  to  some  small  extent  lessened 
the  accuracy.  The  South  and  North  Railroad  or  Helena  Ver- 
tical Section,  and  the  Helena  Horizontal  Section  "I"  to  "J," 
on  the  accompanying  map,  will  show  the  relative  position 
of  the  seams.  By  referring  to  the  horizontal  section,  the 
Helena  basin  is  shown  on  the  right  hand  side  and  occupies 
that  portion  of  the  section  between  the  boundary  fault  ver- 
tical coal  measures  and  the  interior  fault  vertical  coal 
measures.  The  basin  on  the  left  hand  side  is  the  Cahaba 
basin,  which  will  be  described  in  the  next  chapter.  The 
boundary  fault  on  the  southeast  side  of  this  basin,  is  an  up- 
throw of  ten  thousand  feet,  while  the  interior  fault  near  the 
South  and  North  Alabama  Railroad  has  an  upthrow  of  only 
seven  hundred  feet,  though  in  the  southern  part  of  the  coal 
field  this  interior  fault  becomes  an  upthrow  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred feet.  The  Helena  or  South  and  North  vertical  section 
gives  the  seams  of  both  the  Cahaba  basin  and  the  Helena 
basin.  The  coal  measures  of  this  basin  can  be  seen  most 
conveniently  and  to  the  best  advantage,  along  and  near  to 
the  South  and  North  Alabama  Railroad,  between  the  north 


50 


GEOLOGICAL  SUKVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 


"Y"   of  the   Blocton  Mineral  Eailroad  at  the  Tacoa  depot 
and  the  Squire  house  on  the  main  line. 

Commencing  at  said  north  "Y"  and  going  southeast 
along  the  railroad,  your  first  steps  will  be  on  the  fine 
grained  sandstone  underlying  the  Whetrock  seam  ;  you  will 
next  find  the  hard  block  sandstone  thirty  or  forty  feet 
underneath  the  Wadsworth  ;  this  hard  block  sandstone  is 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  rocks  for  hardness  in  the  whole 
of  our  coal  measures;  it  is  generally  from  two  inches  to  six 
inches  in  thickness,  breaks  up  into  blocks  of  from  two  to 
seven  or  eight  inches  across,  nearly  square.  This  block 
sandstone  has  generally  a  very  pale  pea  green,  or  very  pale 
blue  color.  The  first  seam  you  pass  over  is  the  Whetrock 
seam,  of  about  two  feet  in  thickness,  dipping  to  the  south- 
east; all  the  measures  along  the  Soutli  and  North  Railroad 
in  this  basin  have  a  direction  of  dip  to  the  southeast. 
Leaving  the  Whetrock,  and  passing  over  forty-seven  feet  of 
measures,  mostly  sandstones,  you  reach  the  outcrop  of  the 
Wadsworth  seam.  My  oldest  pits  exposing  these  two 
seams,  are  only  a  few  yards  from  the  South  and  North 
Railroad  at  the  point  between  the  north  "  Y"  and  the  main 
line.  A  few  years  ago  the  seams  could  be  seen  from  the 
railroad,  but  the  wash  from  the  higher  ground  has  covered 
them  up.  The  following  is  a  section  of  the  Wadsworth 
seam  taken  at  this  point : 

[  Wadsivorth  seam  in  N.  E.  }/^  of  S.  W.  ^^  in  seclion  16,  totonship   SO,  S., 
range  3,  W], 

SANDSTONE 
2  FEET    GRITTY  SLATE. 

3  FEET  I  INCH  COAL 

BOTTOM  SLATE 
Northeast  of  this  in  this  basin  the  Wadsworth  has  a  split 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD  :   HELENA  BASIN.  61 

in  it,  as  a  test  made  by  myself,  of  which  the  following  sec- 
tion will  show : 

[  Wadsworth  seam  in  N.  E.  3^  of  S.  E.  %  in  section  9,  tovmship  20,  S., 
range  3,  W]. 

Z'fEET  /0/J\/C//£S    COflL 
c?  //^Cf^£  S    SL/r  fB 

S  i/^cH£s  CO/tL 
:^^^^^^       BoTTo/^   GL/fr£:  ~ 

Leaving  the  Wadsworth  seam  and  going  southeast,  you 
pass  over  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  of  measures, 
mostly  coarse  red  sandstone  and  hard  micaceoas  grey  sand- 
stone; you  then  arrive  at  a  thin  seam  of  ten  inches.  Pass- 
ing over  fifty-two  feet  more  of  measures,  you  reach  another 
thin  seam  of  twelve  inches ;  thence  passing  over  one  hun- 
dred and  one  feet  of  fossiliferous  grey  sandstone  and  mas- 
sive grey  sandstone,  you  arrive  at  the  Coke  Oven  seam, 
about  one  and  one-half  feet  thick.  This  seam  is  exposed 
four  or  five  hundred  yards  south  of  this  point,  in  the  rail- 
road cut  west  of  the  old  coke  ovens,  originally  built  several 
years  ago  by  the  Eureka  Company  under  Mr.  Jas.  Thomas' 
directions.  The  said  old  ovens  are  built  on  the  roof  of  the 
Coke  Oven  seam.  Passing  over  forty-four  feet  of  measures 
you  arrive  at  the  Shute  seam,  outcropping  immediately  east 
of  said  old  coke  ovens ;  then  passing  over  three  hundred 
and  three  feet  of  measures  in  the  middle  of  which  is  a  thin 
seam  of  about  fourteen  inches  in  thickness,  you  will  arrive 
at  the  Pump  seam.  This  seam  outcrops  underneath  the 
steam  pump  at  the  wooden  bridge  or  trestle  over  Buck 
Creek  of  the  Helena  and  Blocton  Railroad ;  the  outcrop  for- 
merly exposed  here  at  this  point  is  now  covered  up.  In 
this  basin  its  thickness  varies  from  one  and  a  half  to  seven 
feet.  The  last  three  hundred  and  three  feet  of  measures 
are  mostly  hard  micaceous  olive  colored  sandstone,  or  lam- 
inated yellow  sandstone.  Then  continuing  southeast,  you 
pass  over  three  hundred  and  twenty-seven  feet  of  measures, 


52 


GEOLOGICAL  SURYET  OF  ALABAMA. 


the  lower  part  being  raostly  slaty  sandstone,  laminated 
sandstone,  and  yellow  sandstone,  the  upper  part  being  a 
very  massive  grey  or  white  sandstone  which,  in  other  parts 
of  the  field,  becomes  a  conglomerate.  You  then  arrive  at 
the  Buck  seam,  which  at  this  point  is  four  feet  in  thickness, 
of  which  the  following  is  a  section  from  actual  tests  in  this 
basin : 

[Buck  seam  in  N.  E.  %  of  N.  E.  %  of  section  16,  township  20,  S. ,  range 
3,  W]. 


s/i^^dsj-o/^/e 


s^££-jrii  f/^c^Eis  COfiL 


The  outcrop  of  the  Buck  seam  can  be  seen  in  the  little 
knoll  or  point  between  the  south  "  Y  "  of  the  Helena  and 
Blocton  Branch  of  the  Birmingham  Mineral  Railroad  and 
main  line  near  the  wooden  bridge.  The  Buck  seam  is  a 
lower  bench  of  the  Mammoth  seam,  and  the  same  as  the 
seam  they  are  now  mining  in  the  No.  1,  No.  2,  and  No.  3 
slopes  at  the  DeBardeleben  Coal  and  Iron  Company's  mines 
at  Henryellen.  It  is  also  the  same  as  the  Clark  seam  in 
the  Lolley  and  Dailey  Creek  basins.  The  seam  has  been 
worked  to  a  limited  extent  by  the  Eureka  Company,  by 
means  of  a  tunnel  from  one  of  the  gangways  of  their  Black- 
shale  slope.  The  Blackshale  slope  was  south  of  the  South 
and  North  Railroad,  and  in  the  irregular  part  of  this 
basin,     (a). 

Continuing  southeast  along  the  South  and  North  Rail- 
road, and  passing  over  thirty-five  feet  of  laminated  sand- 
stone, you  arrive  at  three  streaks  of  coal,  (thin  seams  of  a 
few  inches  each,)  these  thin  layers  of  coal  follow  the  meas- 

(a)  I  must  here  state  that  those  conducting  and  superintending  the 
Eureka  Company's  work,  sank  this  slope  contrary  to  the  advice  of  the 
writer,  and  after  their  attention  was  called  to  the  irregularity  of  that 
part  of  the  basin. 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD  :   HELENA   BASIN. 


53 


ures  of  the  Mammoth  split,  (b,)  from  above  Henryellen  to 
BloctoD,  wherever  the  writer  has  seen  these  rock  layers  ex- 
posed. Then  passing  over  an  additional  seventy-six  feet  of 
fine  grained  sandstone  brings  you  to  the  Blackshale  seam  ; 
this  seam  is  three  to  three  and  a  half  feet  thick,  on  an  aver- 
age, in  this  basin.  This  seam  is  the  upper  bench  of  the 
Mammoth  seam,  and  is  also  the  same  seam  as  the  Gholson 
seam  now  being  worked  by  the  Excelsior  Coal  Company  at 
the  No.  1,  No.  2,  and  No.  3  slopes  at  Gurnee,  on  the  Brier- 
field,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Eailroad.  The  Blackshale 
and  the  Buck  are  the  Helena  equivalent  of  the  Mammoth  at 
Henryellen.  The  Blackshale  is  also  the  same  as  the  Ghol- 
son in  the  Lolley  basin  and  the  Dailey  Creek  basin.  From 
the  South  and  North  Kailroad  to  the  south  end  of  the  field 
this  seam  and  the  Buck  occupy  an  almost  continuous  val- 
ley, along  which  the  engineers  have  recently  located  the 
Helena  and  Blocton  branch  of  the  Birmingham  Mineral 
Railroad,  the  Buck  or  Clark  being  generally  near  the  bot- 
tom of,  or  on  the  northwest  side  of  the  valley,  while  the 
Blackshale  or  Gholson  will  generally  be  found  on  its  south- 
east side,  often  some  distance  up  the  side  of  the  hill. 
While  the  Blackshale  is  six  feet  at  Henryellen  and  is  five 
feet  thick  at  the  old  Gholson  mine,  the  average  of  it,  in  this 
basin,  as  has  been  proved  by  actual  tests,  is  not  over  three 
and  a  half  feet,  yet  it  is  a  solid  seam  of  good  coal,  free  from 
any  interlarded  layers  of  slate,  smut,  or  other  injurious 
partings.  The  following  is  a  measured  section  of  the  Black- 
shale, from  a  test  pit  near  the  South  and  North  Railroad: 

[Blackshale  seam,  in  N.  E.  3^  of  N.  E.  ^4  of  section  16,  township  20,  S., 
range  3,  W]. 


>S/7/\/oS^O/\/£ 


5  fBcr  //yc//  co/jL 


Boy-j-o/n    SLpTS 


(6)  The  word  split  here  refers  to  the  barren  strata — sandstones,  etc., 
which  come  in  between  and  separate  the  two  benches  of  the  Mammoth 
seam. 


54 


GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OP  ALABAMA, 


The  Blackshale  seam  outcrops  a  few  yards  northwest  of 
the  south  "Y"  switch  of  the  Helena  and  Blocton  branch  of 
the  Birmingham  Mineral  Railroad.  The  old  Stevens  and 
Norton  slope  on  the  Blackshale,  can  be  seen  a  few  yards 
northeast  of  said  switch.  Leaving  the  Blackshale  seam  and 
continuing  southeast  along  the  South  and  North  Railroad, 
after  passing  over  ninety-seven  feet  of  measures  mostly 
coarse  micaceous  sandstone,  you  arrive  at  a  thin  seam  of 
about  twelve  inches,  surrounded  by  rusty  slate ;  the  test  in 
this  seam  is  close  to  railroad  on  south  side.  Continuing 
southeast  and  passing  over  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  feet  of 
measures,  mostly  coarse  hard  grey  and  red  sandstone,  you 
arrive  at  a  double  seam,  here  named  the  Moyle  seam,  and 
varying  in  thickness  from  one  to  three  feet,  thence  south- 
east, passing  over  thirty  feet  of  laminated  sandstone,  brings 
you  to  the  Little  Pittsburgh  seam.  These  two  seams  out- 
crop opposite  the  foundation  of  an  old  burnt  building  on 
the  north  side  of  the  South  and  North  Railroad,  barely  off 
the  right  of  way ;  they  also  outcrop  at  the  south  side  of 
Buck  Creek  where  the  two  old  test  drifts  are  seen  near  the 
edge  of  the  creek.  One  of  the  drifts  was  made  in  the  Moyle, 
the  other  in  the  Little  Pittsburgh ;  the  wash  from  the  hill 
has  now  nearly  filled  them  up.  The  Little  Pittsburgh  is 
also  a  double  seam.  At  this  point,  the  coal  of  this  seam  is 
of  remarkable  good  quality,  but  its  thickness  is  too  small  to 
justify  working.  The  following  is  a  section  of  the  Little 
Pittsburgh  seam  taken  from  tests  made  close  to  this  point : 

[Little  Pittsburgh  seam,  in   section  16,  toivnship  20,  S.,  range  3,  W.:  rate 
of  dip  35°]. 


I frooy  2  //Vc//£s   co/rL 


The  Little  Pittsburgh  seam  is  generally  rated  as  a  two 
and  a  half  foot  seam,  in  this  basin.     Leaving  this  seam  and 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   HELENA  BASIN.  ^5 

continuinfs;  along  the  railroad  southeastward,  after  passing 
over  ninety-two  feet  of  measures  mostly  hard  grey  sand- 
stone, you  arrive  at  the  Quarry  seam.  This  is  a  thin  seam 
of  one  and  a  half  to  two  feet.  Passing  over  thirty-five  feet 
of  additional  measures,  you  will  arrive  at  the  Smithshop 
seam,  this  is  another  thin  seam  of  one  and  one-half  feet. 
The  Smithshop  seam  outcrops  in  the  small  ravine  or  valley 
immediately  southeast  of  the  old  quarry ;  thence  from  the 
Smithshop  seam  southeast,  passing  over  one  hundred  and 
seventy-three  feet  of  sandstone,  part  of  it  coarse  grained, 
part  fine  grained,  with  some  massive  and  some  laminated 
sandstone,  you  will  arrive  at  the  Thompson  or  Conglomer- 
ate seam.  The  average  thickness  in  the  Helena  basin,  of 
this  seam  is  from  three  to  five  feet,  though  owing  to  its 
close  proximity  to  the  great  boundary  fault,  its  thickness 
varies  from  two  and  a  half  or  three  feet,  up  to  ten  or  twelve 
feet.  When  the  seam  is  in  good  condition  in  this  basin,  it 
contains  from  three  to  five  feet  of  good  coal  from  bottom  to 
top  ;  in  places  though  it  becomes  interlarded  with  pockets 
or  layers  of  what  miners  call  "  smut,"  a  black,  shiny,  soft 
material  that  looks  very  much  like  coal,  and  is  difficult  to 
keep  out  of  coal  on  account  of  its  close  resemblance,  and  its 
not  being  always  at  the  top  of  the  seam,  as  the  smut  that  is 
connected  with  the  Montevallo  seam  generally  is. 

The  principal  defects  of  the  Conglomerate  seam  in  this 
basin  are  its  roof,  (which  in  places  is  very  treacherous,)  its 
liability  to  layers  of  smut,  and  its  irregularity  in  thickness. 
Four  or  five  attempts  to  work  this  seam  in  this  basin  have 
been  made  in  the  past,  but  in  every  case  have  ended  in 
abandoning  it,  chiefly  on  the  account  of  the  roof  and  its  ir- 
regular and  defective  condition. 

The  springs  in  the  outcrop  of  this  seam  near  Buck  Creek 
furnish  three  varieties  of  mineral  water.  On  the  south  side 
of  said  creek  are  two  strong  chalybeate  springs,  and  from 
its  outcrop  on  the  north  side  it  furnishes  a  strong  alum 
spring.  These  waters  have  been  shipped  away  to  some  ex- 
tent, and  several  invalids  have  come  here  to  Helena  and 
stayed  for  the  benefit  to  be  derived  from  these  waters.  For 
some  classes  of  bowel  diseases  they  have  been  highly 
praised.      The   Conglomerate    seam   is   the   same    as    the 


56  GEOLOGICA.L  SURVEY   OF  ALA.BAMA. 

Thompson  and  the  Underwood,  but  in  the  southern  portion 
of  the  coal  field  it  is  much  larger,  and  in  better  condition 
than  it  is  in  this  basin,  for  description  of  which  see  the 
chapters  on  the  Blocton  basin  and  the  Daily  Creek  basin. 
In  the  north  end  of  this  basin  also,  it  is  thicker  and  in  bet- 
ter condition  than  it  is  on  the  South  and  North  Alabama 
Railroad. 

Leaving  the  Conglomerate  seam  and  continuing  south- 
east, passing  over  eighty-four  feet  of  measures,  the  first 
twenty  feet  of  which  are  mostly  coarse  sandstones,  the  next 
fifty  feet  being  a  dense  conglomerate,  some  of  the  pebbles 
being  large  enough  to  make  it  a  puddingstone,  and  the  re- 
maining fourteen  feet  a  hard,  coarse  sandstone,  you  come  to 
a  thin  seam  of  fifteen  inches.  This  thin  seam  outcrops  in 
the  valley  between  the  Conglomerate  ridge  and  the  Helena 
seam,  and  the  ledge  of  conglomerate,  or  the  ridge  it  forms, 
is  an  excellent  guide  and  characteristic  rock  in  the  identi- 
fying and  locating  of  all  the  other  seams  in  this  basin. 

The  first  settlers  in  this  neighborhood  gave  the  ridge  the 
name  of  Gold  Ridge.  It  may  be  possible  that  they  pre- 
sumed that  there  was  gold  in  it,  on  account  of  its  contain- 
ing some  quartz  pebbles.  It  is  much  the  highest  and  most 
prominent  ridge  in  the  basin,  and  is  easily  known  by  the 
large  number  of  quartz  pebbles  scattered  over  it.  Leaving 
the  aforesaid  fifteen  inch  seam,  and  continuing  southeast- 
ward, you  will  pass  over  fifty-two  feet  of  measures,  mostly 
yellow  sandstone.  This  brings  you  to  the  Helena  seam. 
That  portion  of  the  sandstone  immediately  under  the 
Helena  seam,  is  fossiliferous,  and  part  of  it  laminated.  The 
outcrop  of  the  Helena  seam  is  under  the  railroad  trestle 
between  bridge  72  and  the  Conglomerate  ridge.  The  aver- 
age thickness  in  this  basin  is  four  to  five  feet,  but  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  South  and  North  Railroad  and  Buck 
Creek,  a  test  drift  one  hundred  feet  in  length  close  to  the 
creek,  demonstrates  that  its  average  thickness  at  this  point 
is  not  over  six  inches  for  the  whole  length  of  the  drift.  The 
great  boundary  fault  being  only  about  one  hundred  yards 
southeast  of  said  drift,  sufl&ciently  accounts  for  the  irregu- 
larity of  the  seam  at  this  point.  While  this  seam  in  the 
Eureka  basin,  immediately  south  of  this,  has  a  solid  four  to 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD  :   HELENA   BASIN. 


57 


four  and  a  half  feet  of  coal  without  any  slates  interlarded, 
in  this  basin  it  is  usually  divided  up  into  two  or  three 
layers,  as  the  following  measured  sections  of  this  seam  taken 
from  test  pits  will  show : 

[Helena  seam  in  S.  E.  )^  of  N.  E.  I4,  section  10,  township  20,  S.,  range 
S,  Wl 

2/^EEf    6  IJslcf^ES    COflL 

3  ///c/Zcs     sLfij-E 
f  fooj-  6/;Jc/^Es    COfJL 

Si/^cHes    glpt^ 
2fEEr     C0/7L 
Boyjo/v?     sLfryc 

{Helena  seam  in  S.  W.  }4  of  S.  W.  }4,  in  section  2,  township  20,  S.,  range 
3,  W.:  rate  of  dip  3(f]. 

G-RITTY     SUnTEL 


4  FeiET  3  Jnches    CO/JL 

3  Inches    SLfJTE 

1  Foot   9lNChfES      C  O  fl  L 

1  Foot    SLF^TE 
Z  Feet   CO/JL 
Bottom   3L/7TE    or 

P/RE-CL/jy 


58 


GEOLOGICAL  SUBVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 


[Helena  seam  in  N.  W.  }4  of  S.  W.   }i,  in  section  2,  township  20,  S., 
range  3,  W. :  rate  of  dip  46^]. 


^/r//£3^/-o/VjEr 


5fEEJ  //  //Vc/^ES    CO/JL 


6  //Vc^Es    SL/=iT£ 
SLf^^T     C0/7L 
Boj-jo/^    sL/tj-je: 


The  coal  of  the  Helena  seam  ranks  very  high  as  a  domes- 
tic coal,  and  it  is  used  at  present  by  the  Eureka  Company 
for  their  coke  ovens  near  Helena  and  their  smelting  fur- 
naces near  Osmoor,  ten  miles  North  of  this  basin,  the  large 
lumps  being  sold  mostly  for  domestic  purposes.  The  di- 
vided condition  of  the  Helena  seam  is  again  seen  about  six 
miles  south  of  this  point  in  the  Dry  Creek  basin  and  the 
Lolley  basin;  for  description  of  which,  see  chapters  on 
those  basins.  From  the  Helena  seam  going  southeastwards, 
you  pass  over  ninety-four  feet  of  measures,  mostly  coarse 
grey  and  yellow  sandstone  and  slaty  sandstone,  forming  the 
high  cliff  on  the  south  side  of  the  creek  opposite  the  rail- 
road trestle.  This  brings  you  to  a  thin  seam  of  eight  inches 
that  outcrops  at  the  pier  at  southeast  end  of  bridge  72,  also 
in  the  lane  opposite  the  spring  house  on  the  Squire  place. 
This  is  the  uppermost  seam  outcropping  in  this  basin.  Con- 
tinuing southeastwards,  passing  over  a  hundred  feet  of 
coarse  red  and  yellow  sandstone,  containing  a  large  number 
of  calnmites  imbedded  in  the  sandstone  in  a  vertical  position 
as  they  stood  when  growing,  you  will  arrive  at  the  great 
boundary  fault  separating  the  Cambrian  from  the  Carbon- 
iferous measures,  in  the  grove  of  willows  at  the  double  rail- 
road culvert  about  three  hundred  yards  north,  73-  west, 
from  the  Helena  depot;  the  culvert  carrying  the  drainage  in 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD  :    HELENA  BASIN.  59 

the  valley  south  of  it  to  Buck  Creek.  At  this  point  the 
fault  vertical  coal  measures  are  only  a  few  feet  across,  but 
north  of  this  at  the  southeast  end  of  the  horizontal  section 
across  this  basin  from  "1"  to  "J,"  the  fault  vertical  coal 
measures  are  more  extensive.  The  direction  or  strike  of 
the  seams  and  rocks  in  this  basin,  along  the  South  and 
North  Alabama  Railroad,  is  about  northeast  and  south- 
west.    The  direction  of  dip  about  southeast. 

The  rate  of  dip  varies,  and  is  as  follows  :  In  this  basin 
along  the  South  and  North  Railroad,  at  the  Wadsworth 
seam,  close  to  railroad,  the  dip  is  42^;  at  the  Pump  seam 
the  rate  of  dip  is  40° ;  at  the  Blackshale  seam,  close  to  rail- 
road, the  rate  of  dip  is  38° ;  at  the  Smithshop  seam  on  rail- 
road, the  rate  of  dip  is  32° ;  at  the  Conglomerate  seam  the 
rate  of  dip  is  29°,  and  at  the  Helena  S9am  the  rate  of  dip  is 
28°. 

The  basin  is  drained  by  the  tributaries  of  the  Cahaba 
river,  Buck  Creek  making  a  deep  cut  through  the  basin  at 
the  south  end.  The  surface  area  of  the  Helena  basin  is  two 
and  a  half  square  miles,  and  its  seams,  counting  all  work- 
able coal  over  two  feet  in  thickness,  and  to  a  depth  of  2,900 
feet,  contain  45,000,000  tons  (of  2,000  pounds)  of  coal,  mak- 
ing no  allowance  for  waste  in  mine  pillars,  or  loss  in  min- 
ing. In  the  foregoing  computation  I  have  included  the 
south  end  of  the  basin  on  both  sides  of  the  South  and 
North  Railroad,  though  since  the  recent  opening  up  of  the 
new  railroads  Helena  &  Blocton,  the  Brierfield,  Blocton  & 
Birmingham,  and  the  Guruee  &  Bessemer,  and  the  Anniston, 
Syllacauga  &  Shelby,  the  said  south  end  has  become  of 
more  value  for  manufacturing  sites  than  for  mining  pur- 
poses. 

The  following  analysis  of  the  coal  from  the  Blackshale 
seam,  near  Helena,  was  made  by  Dr.  Otto  Wuth,  of  Pitts- 
burg, from  a  barrel  full  of  coal  from  a  channelled  section  of 
the  seam  : 

Water 21 

Bitumen 33.29 

Fixed  carbon 64  10 

Ash 2.34 

Sulphur  , 0.07 


60  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

The  following  analysis  of  the  coal  from  the  Wadsworth 
seam,  near  Helena,  was  made  by  Dr.  Otto  Wuth,  of  Pitts- 
burg, Pa.,  from  a  barrel  full  of  coal  from  a  channelled  sec- 
tion of  the  seam  : 

Water 42 

Bitumen 31.97 

Fixed  carbon 63.99 

Ash 3 .  09 

Sulphur 0.53 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  CAHABA  BASIN. 

The  Cahaba  basin  is  situated  west  and  northwest  of  the 
Helena  basin,  the  interior  fault  vertical  coal  measures  sep- 
arate the  two. 

It  is  bounded  on  the  southeast  side  by  the  interior  fault, 
on  the  southwest  end  by  the  Gould  basin,  on  the  northwest 
side  by  the  sub-carboniferous  measures  of  Shades  Valley, 
and  on  the  northeast  end  by  the  Acton  basin.  The  bound- 
ary of  the  basin  is  as  follows  :  Commencing  on  the  South 
and  North  Alabama  Kailroad,  about  forty  yards  south  of 
bridge  70,  or  Carr  bridge,  thence  southwest  along  the  edge 
of  the  fault  measures,  leaving  the  Holt  house  to  your  right, 
continuing  southwest  along  the  edge  of  the  interior  fault, 
passing  close  by  the  northwest  corner  of  section  16,  through 
the  middle  of  section  17  to  the  middle  of  the  southwest 
quarter  of  section  17,  thence  northwest,  crossing  Cahaba 
river  and  following  up  Lainey  branch  to  its  head,  near  the 
northwest  corner  of  section  7,  thence  over  Shades  moun- 
tain to  the  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit,  thence  northeast 
along  the  base  of  Millstone  Grit  through  section  6,  crossing 
the  South  and  North  Alabama  Kailroad  at  Brock's  Gap, 
near  the  middle  of  section  32,  continuing  on  northeast  to 
that  part  of  section  28  opposite  the  head  of  Bailey's  branch, 
thence  southeast  down  Bailey's  branch,  crossing  the 
Cahaba  river  in  the  south  end  of  section  34,  to  the  vertical 
coal  measures  of  the  interior  fault,  thence  southwest  along 
the  northwest  edge  of  the  interior  fault  to  the  point  of  be- 
ginning on  the  South  and  North  Alabama  Kailroad,  near 
the  Holt  house. 

The  principal  wagon  road  of  this  basin  is  the  one  formerly 
called  the  Montevallo  and  Elyton  road,  where,  thirty-five 
years  ago,  Jemison  and  Powell  used  to  run  their  stage 
coaches,  but  like  the  coaches,  the  road  is  now  very  much 


62  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OP  ALABAMA. 

neglected  and  out  of  common  use.  Said  waj^on  road  crosses 
the  Cahaba  river  at  the  Lacey  Ford,  passing  under  the  high 
railroad  trestle  in  section  5,  crossing  Shades  mountain  at 
Brock's  Gap,  thence  on  by  Osmoor  to  Elyton  and  Birming- 
ham. On  the  top  of  Shades  mountain,  two  other  roads 
branch  from  this,  one  going  southwest  on  the  top  of  the 
mountain  towards  Gurnee  and  Blocton,  the  other  one  takes 
a  northeast  course  on  the  top  of  Sbades  mountain  and  leads 
to  the  Morrow  orchard,  Howell  orchard,  the  Earnest  vine- 
yard and  the  Hale  place.  Both  these  last  mentioned  roads 
follow  along  close  to  the  edge  of  the  basin,  the  roads  being 
but  a  short  distance  above  the  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit. 

The  length  of  this  basin  is  about  tliree  and  a  half  miles 
from  the  southwest  end  to  the  northeast  end,  by  an  average 
width  of  two  miles,  and  it  contains  an  area  of  seven  square 
miles.  The  amount  of  good,  workable  coal  in  it,  in  seams 
over  two  feet  in  thickness,  amounts  to  23,000,000  tons  (of 
2,000  pounds),  at  a  depth  of  not  over  2,200  feet ;  in  this 
computation  there  is  no  allowance  for  loss  in  pillars  or 
waste  in  mining ;  about  three-fourths  of  the  above  23,000,- 
000  tons  are  very  good  coking  coals,  furnished  by  the  Gould, 
and  Cahaba  or  Wads  worth  seams. 

The  Cahaba  basin  is  drained  by  the  Cahaba  river  and  its 
tributaries,  Buck  creek,  Bailey's  branch,  Black  creek,  Mar- 
tin's branch,  Lainey  branch  and  others. 

The  prominent  ridges  of  this  basin  are  Shades  mountain 
on  its  northwest  side,  then  Pine  ridge,  near  and  parallel  to 
the  last  mentioned,  and  Red  or  Chestnut  ridge,  near  and 
parallel  to  the  other  two.  The  South  and  North  Alabama 
Railroad  Vertical  Section,  and  the  Helena  Horizontal  Section 
on  the  accompanying  map,  give  the  relative  positions  of  the 
seams  of  this  basin ;  also  the  form  of  the  basin  and  its  rela- 
tions to  the  interior  fault  and  the  Helena  basin.  The  hori- 
zontal section,  showing  both  basins,  is  taken  along  the  line 
shown  on  map  from  "I"  to  "J,"  said  line  crossing  the  South 
and  North  Alabama  Railroad  very  near  the  slope  of  the 
South  Birmingham  Coal  and  Iron  Company,  at  Sydenton. 

The  rocks  of  this  basin  can  be  seen  to  the  best  advantage 
along  the  South  and  North  Alabama  Railroad.  Commenc- 
ing at  the  northwest  end  of  the  Brock's  Gap  cut,  the  lower 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :   CAHABA  BASIN.  63 

part  of  the  Millstone  Grit  formation  can  be  seen  beneath 
the  Brock  seam;  it  has  a  light  bluish  tinge  The  Brock 
seam  is  about  one  and  a  half  feet  thick,  the  coal  being  of 
inferior  quality  at  this  point ;  after  passing  over  forty  feet 
of  measures,  the  Millstone  Grit  being  here  of  a  faint  bluish 
tinge,  you  come  to  the  seven  inch  seam ;  passing  over  this 
you  will  then  arrive  at  the  lower  part  of  the  two  hundred 
feet  of  Millstone  Grit,  you  will  perceive  it  here  loses  its 
bluish  tinge  and  becomes  of  a  white  or  grey  color,  though 
weathering  white  ;  the  white  pebbled  conglomerate  is  im- 
bedded in  this  heavy  ledge,  and  though  the  pebbles  in 
places  may  not  be  visible  for  some  distance,  they  always 
re-appear  again.  In  general,  these  pebbles  are  easily 
noticed  in  the  Millstone  Grit  of  nearly  all  our  Alabama 
coal  measures.  This  heavy  layer  of  Millstone  Grit  forms 
the  shield  of  Shades  mountain,  which  is  the  highest  in  the 
basin.  Crossing  over  the  mountain,  in  the  valley  between 
it  and  Pine  Ridge,  you  pass  over  a  hundred  feet  of  gritty 
slate,  which  you  will  distinguish  from  the  slate  around  the 
Gould,  by  its  containing  a  greater  abundance  of  rusty  part- 
ing and  bedding  planes  than  the  Gould  slate  does ;  this 
slate  is  of  a  dirty  greenish  color.  Above  this  slate  is  a 
bluish  laminated  sandstone.  You  next  arrive  at  the  Mill- 
stone Grit  of  Pine  ridge,  which  can  be  seen  in  the  railroad 
cut,  locally  named  the  "Teague  Cut"  in  this  part  of  Pine 
ridge ;  passing  through  this  you  come  in  sight  of  the  high 
trestle  that  stands  over  the  outcrop  of  the  Gould  seam  and 
its  surrounding  slates  ;  you  will  notice  that  the  gritty  slates 
around  the  Gould  seam  are  lighter  in  color  than  those  be- 
tween Shades  mountain  and  Pine  ridge;  over  the  Gould 
seam  is  a  ledge  of  yellow  and  pink  sandstone  which  will 
help  you  to  locate  the  seam  in  almost  any  part  of  the 
Cahaba  Coal  Field,  and  over  this  sandstone  is  another  im- 
mense bed  of  gritty  slate.  Between  said  pritty  slate  and 
the  Millstone  Grit  of  Chestnut  ridge,  is  a  ledge  of  about 
twenty  feet  of  blue-black  slate,  quite  different  from  the  blue 
laminated  sandstooe  under  the  Millstone  Grit  of  Pine  ridge. 
This  slate  is  another  guide  in  identifying  and  locating  the 
Gould  seam.  Overlying  the  blue-black  slate  is  the  Mill- 
stone Grit  of  Chestnut  ridge ;  this  is  the  upper  layer  of 


64  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

Millstone  Grit,  and  one  of  its  peculiar  features  is  its  assum- 
ing a  more  red  or  pinkish  tinge  than  the  layers  of  Shades 
mountain  and  Pine  ridge  ;  it  has  the  same  peculiarity  in  the 
Warrior  Field,  which  can  be  noticed  along  the  South  and 
North  Alabama  Eailroad,  south  of  Raid's  Gap.  Above  the 
Millstone  Grit  of  Chestnut  ridge,  and  both  above  and  below 
the  Nunnally  seam,  most  of  the  sandstones  have  a  pinkish 
tinge  at  their  outcrops  ;  this  is  a  characteristic  of  this  part 
of  the  measures.  After  passing  over  two  hundred  feet  of 
measures  above  the  Harkness  seam,  you  will  arrive  at  the 
lower  edges  of  another  great  landmark  and  characteristic 
rock,  the  one  hundred  foot  ledge  of  the  blue  micaceous 
sandstone ;  a  close  examination  of  this  ledge  will  aid  you  in 
any  investigation  of  the  same  series  of  measures  in  other 
parts  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  (also  in  Warrior  and  Coosa 
Coal  Fields.)  Passing  over  this  hundred  foot  ledge,  you 
will  find  that  the  sandstones  above  it  are  more  micaceous 
than  they  are  below  it ;  these  overlying  sandstones  acquire 
a  new  feature  which  attaches  to  most  of  the  ledges  immedi- 
ately below  and  above  the  Wadsworth  seam — that  is,  their 
becoming  concretionary,  and  resembling,  when  broken  the 
layers  or  skins  of  a  halved  onion  ;  but  the  great  guide  to  the 
identification  of  the  seams  in  this  part  of  the  coal  measures, 
is  the  large  ledge  just  mentioned  of  blue  micaceous  sand- 
stone. The  guide  to  the  identification  of  the  Wadsworth 
seam  is  the  two  to  six  inch  ledge  of  pale  blue  or  green 
block  sandstone,  which  underlies  the  Wadsworth  at  a  varying 
distance  of  from  forty  to  ninety  feet.  Leaving  the  Wads- 
worth seam  and  continuing  southeast,  after  passing  over 
one  hundred  feet  of  measures,  you  will  find  a  sandstone 
that  is  remarkably  concretionary  in  places,  but  immediately 
above  the  Wadsworth  is  a  coarse  sandstone  that  shows  very 
red  at  the  surface.  Ascending  in  the  measures  to  a  point 
one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  above  the  Wadsworth  seam 
you  will  arrive  at  a  hard  micaceous  grey  sandstone  con- 
taining a  thin  ten  inch  seam  ;  at  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  feet  above  the  Wadsworth  is  another  thin  seam  of 
about  twelve  inches ;  about  two  hundred  feet  above  the 
Wadsworth  is  a  fossiliferous  grey  sandstone;  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  Wadsworth  is  a  massive 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  I   CAHABA  BASIN.  65 

grey  sandstone ;  above  this  you  will  find  the  Coke  Oven 
seam,  and  forty-four  feet  above  it  the  Shute  seam,  but  I  do 
not  consider  that  there  is  a  sufficient  area  of  the  two  last 
mentioned  seams  in  this  basin  to  justify  preparations  for 
extensive  working. 

On  the  northwest  side  of  the  Cahaba  basin,  the  rate  of 
dip  is  very  regular,  varying  from  about  15^  to  20° ;  on  the 
southeast  side  of  the  basin  the  rate  of  dip  is  much  more 
steep,  being  mostly  from  25°  up  to  75*^. 

The  Gould  seam  and  the  Wadsworth  seam  are  the  two 
principal  working  seams  in  this  basin,  both  making  a  first- 
class  coke  ;  the  coke  from  the  Gould  seam  used  to  be  con- 
sidered by  the  foundry  men  of  the  State  as  the  best  coke 
that  they  could  get. 

The  South  Birmingham  Coal  and  Iron  Company  are 
working  the  Wadsworth  in  this  basin  at  Sydenton,  by 
means  of  a  slope  driven  down  southeastwards  from  the 
northwest  outcrop. 

The  above  mentioned  slope,  if  continued  on  to  the  lowest 
part  of  this  basin,  will  drain  an  immense  area  of  the  Wads- 
worth  seam.  This  basin  has  the  great  advantage  of  having 
the  Louisville  and  Nashville  Company's  main  line  (S.  and 
N.  A.  R.  R.)  running  through  the  middle  of  it. 

An  analysis  of  the  coke  recently  made  from  the  Wads- 
worth  mine,  in  the  South  Birmingham  Coal  and  Iron  Com- 
pany's slope  at  Sydenton,  in  this  basin,  gave  the  following 
results  : 

Analysis  of  Coke  made  from  the  Wadsruorth  Seam  hy  Alfred, 
Brainerd,  of  Birmingham,  Alabama. 

Moisture 0  100 

Volatile 2 .  050 

Fixed  Carbon 90 .  183 

Sulphur 0.617 

Ash 7.050 


100.000 
Condition :   Good  color,  ash  brick  red,  specific  gravity 
1.763. 

This  is  a  first  rate  coke,  and  one  of  the  best  in  the  South- 
ern States. 
5 


66 


GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 


The  Whetrock  seam,  or  under-seam  of  the  Wadsworth,  is 
thin  at  this  point. 

The  following  is  a  section  of  the  Wadsworth  and  Whet- 
rock seams  in  the  Cahaba  basin,  the  Wadsworth  being  the 
upper,  and  separated  from  the  Whetrock  by  forty  feet  of 
measures  : 

[  Wadsworth  and  Whetrock  seams,  at  the  Carr  tt-  Davis  slope,  in  N.  W.  ^4 
of  N.  W.  ^4:  ^f  section  9,  township  20,  S.,  range  3,  W.;  direction  of 
strike  N.,  15°  E.  from  the  true  meridian,  direction  of  dip  S.,  75°  E., 
rate  of  dip  16°]. 


30 ^EEj    cofffise:  sfi;JD5j-o/^£ 


6 /TEC  J    CfPiTTy''     Sl/7J-£ 

3fEEj-  3  ip/cf^es    O-oao    CO/JL 


4  /f/cf^£s    (Zof^L 
.S'//C'c///s   Co/rL 

lOf^eE-f    G-fiiTTY'    s/./7j-£: 

COfipSB      S  /J/^O  S  7-0 /V£. 

Since  the  above  section  was  made  the  South  Birmingham 
Coal  and  Iron  Company,  who  have  bought  the  property  as 
stated  above,  have  driven  the  slope  further  down  in  the 
basin  and  I  am  informed  they  found  the  Wadsworth  much 
thicker  than  three  and  a  quarter  feet. 

The  Gould  seam,  I  consider  after  examining  it  at  different 
points,  will  average  three  feet  in  thickness  in  this  basin  ;  it 
is  an  easily  mined  coal  and  has  a  good  roof ;  I  have  always 
found  it  in  this  basin  a  solid  seam,  without  any  serious 
layers  of  slate  in  it,  though  I  have  seen  it  in  the  Coosa  field 
with  a  twelve  inch  layer  of  slate  in  the  middle  of  it.  The 
Gould  seam  in  the  Cahaba  field  bids  fair  to  be  worked  ex- 
tensively in  the  future  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  superior 
quality  of  coke. 

The  South  and  North  Vertical  Section  and  the  Helena  Hori- 
zontal Section  (from  "I"  to  "J")  on  the   accompanying  map, 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :   CAHABA  BASIN.  67 

will  show  the  seams  of  this  basin  and  their  relative  posi- 
tion. 

The  Wadswoith  seam  in  this  basin  was  mined  near  the 
railroad  bridge  during  the  war  by  Woodson  &  Gould,  and 
by  various  parties  since. 

Immediately  after  the  war,  William  Gould  opened  a  drift 
on  the  Gould  seam  at  a  point  about  a  mile  southwest  of  the 
high  trestle  where  the  Gould  outcrop  crosses  the  South 
and  North  Alabama  Railroad  ;  from  this  point  he  supplied 
the  foundaries  of  Alabama  with  a  superior  coke  for  their 
cupolas. 

For  analysis  of  the  Wadsworth  coal,  see  chapter  on  the 
Helena  basin. 


CHAPTER   VL 


THE    EUREKA    BASIN. 

The  Eureka  basin  lies  southwest  of  the  town  of  Helena, 
the  north  end  of  it  being  about  half  a  mile  southwest  of  the 
Helena  depot,  on  the  South  and  North  Alabama  Railroad- 
It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Helena  basin,  on  the 
southeast  by  the  great  boundary  fault  separating  the  Car- 
boniferous from  the  Cambrian  measures,  on  the  south  by 
the  Beaverdam  fault,  separating  it  from  the  Dry  Creek 
basin,  and  on  the  northwest  side  by  the  interior  fault  vertical 
measures. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  its  boundary  :  Com- 
mencing at  the  great  boundary  fault  on  the  east  side  of  the 
coal  field  at  a  point  about  half  a  mile  southwest  of  the 
South  and  North  depot  at  Helena,  thence  south  by  a  few 
degrees  west,  along  the  boundary  fault  leaving  Hillsboro 
fifty  yards  to  your  right,  leaving  R.  T.  Duunan's  house 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  your  left,  continuing  along 
boundary  fault  until  you  get  nearly  opposite  Mrs.  Peel's 
house,  thence  westerly  along  the  Beaver  Dam  fault,  mostly 
along  Beaver  Dam  Creek,  to  the  half  mile  post  of  the  south 
side  of  section  25,  township  20,  range  4,  west ;  this  brings 
you  to  the  southeast  boundary  of  the  Interior  fault  meas- 
ures; thence  northeast  along  the  southeast  edge  of  the  In- 
terior fault,  leaving  Lainey  Ford  sis  or  seven  hundred  yards 
to  your  left,  continuing  on  northeast  until  you  arrive  oppo- 
site the  half-mile  post  on  the  east  side  of  section  17,  town- 
ship 20,  range  3,  west ;  thence  southeast  to  the  point  of 
commencement.  Your  last  course  will  be  nearly  parallel 
with  the  public  road,  the  road  being  south  or  southwest 
of  it. 

This  basin  is  drained  by  the  Cahaba  River  and  Beaver 
Dam  Creek  and  their  branches. 

The  most  prominent  ridge  in  this  basin  is  the  one  that 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   EUREKA   BASIN.  6§ 

begins  to  become  high  close  to  Hillsboro,  (formed  by  the 
roof  rock  of  the  Helena  seam,)  from  thence  continuing 
southwest  almost  over  the  synclinal  of  the  Eureka  basin  ; 
this  ridge  is  generally  called  the  Hillsboro  Divide,  the 
gorge  of  Beaver  Dam  Creek  cutting  through  it.  Quite  a 
number  of  other  smaller  ridges  run  parallel  with  it — the 
Conglomerate  ridge  and  others. 

The  length  of  this  basin  is  three  miles,  by  an  average 
width  of  one  and  eight-tenths  miles.  Its  area  is  five  and 
four-tenths  square  miles,  and  it  contains,  in  seams  of  over 
two  feet  in  thickness,  and  less  than  three  thousand  feet  in 
vertical  depth,  83,000,000  tons  of  workable  coal,  (2,000 
pounds,)  without  making  any  allowance  for  loss  in  pillars, 
or  waste  in  mining. 

The  form  or  strike  of  the  measures  and  coal  outcrops  in 
the  ends  of  this  basin  is  quite  in  contrast  to  what  is  seen 
at  the  ends  of  the  other  basins  in  this  coal  field,  viz  :  The 
measures  at  the  north  end  are  part  of  them  bent  sharply 
around  at  an  acute  angle ;  those  at  the  south  end  are  bent 
around  forming  a  clearly  defined  right  angle  or  very  near 
it ;  the  other  basins  show  the  measures  and  outcrops  bend- 
ing around  more  gradually,  some  of  them  forming  a  half 
circle  or  fishhook  shape.  The  lowest  seam  in  this  basin 
woikable  by  slope,  is  the  Wadsworth,  the  Nunnally  seaufi 
being  too  close  to  the  interior  fault  to  allow  of  it  being  reli- 
able. The  next  workable  seam  above  the  Wadsworth  is  the 
Buck,  then  immediately  above  the  Buck  seam  is  the  Black- 
shale  ;  both  these  seams  are  close  to  the  Helena  and  Gur- 
nee  branch  of  the  Birmingham  Mineral  Railroad ;  above 
these  seams  and  to  the  southeast  of  them  are  the  Little 
Pittsburg  seam,  the  Conglomerate  seam,  and  the  Helena 
seam. 

The  Eureka  Company  are  now  working  the  Helena  seam 
in  this  basin  by  means  of  a  slope  driven  down  from  the 
outcrop  to  the  southeast ;  said  slope  is  driven  down  to  the 
synclinal  of  the  basin  and  is  now  ascending  the  opposite 
dip.  The  workings  in  this  slope  prove  the  Helena  seam  to 
be  a  good  seam  of  an  average  thickness  of  four  feet  of  solid 
coal,  with  no  slates  or  impurities  except  that  about  two  or 
three  inches  of  the  middle  of  the  seam  is  rather  bony ;  even 


70  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

this  burns  to  an  ash  along  with  the  other  without  fail.  The 
coal  of  this  seam  ranks  high  as  a  domestic  coal,  but  it  is 
now  used  by  the  Eureka  Company  for  the  purpose  of  coke- 
making  at  their  ovens  on  their  branch  railroad ;  said  ovens 
are  between  the  Birmingham  Mineral  Blocton  branch  and 
the  Eureka  Company's  Branch  Railroad  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  from  Tacoa  Station,  on  the  South  and  North  Ala- 
bama Railroad.  The  Eureka  Company  apply  the  coke  to 
iron  smelting  at  their  Oxmoor  furnaces,  six  miles  south  of 
Birmingham. 

The  Eureka  Company's  Branch  Railroad  extends  from 
Tacoa  depot,  on  the  South  and  North  Alabama  Railroad,  to 
their  No.  2  slope,  in  the  Eureka  basin,  a  distance  of  about 
two  miles.  The  coke  ovens  and  the  houses  of  the  miners 
are  on  this  branch  railroad,  between  the  Louisville  and 
Nashville  Company's  main  line  and  slope  No.  2. 

The  rate  of  dip  of  the  measures  of  the  Eureka  basin  is 
mostly  from  28^  to  42";  the  exceptions  are,  the  very  steep 
dips  on  the  southeast  side  of  the  basin,  approaching  to  the 
vertical,  and  the  measures  of  the  synclinal  which  flatten  up 
to  a  rate  of  dip  as  low  as  2"  or  S'^. 

The  seams  of  this  basin  are  mostly  of  good  quality ;  the 
Wadsworth,  a  seam  of  three  feet  to  three  and  a  half  feet, 
yields  a  very  good  coking  coal,  is  easily  mined,  has  a  good 
roof,  and  in  the  Bee  Hive  oven  makes  a  first-class  coke. 

The  Buck  is  a  seam  averaging  about  four  feet,  is  a  good 
coal,  and  will  also  coke.  The  Blackshale,  a  seam  of  three 
to  three  and  a  half  feet,  is  a  very  pure,  clean  seam,  makes  a 
good  domestic  and  steam  coal,  and  has  a  good,  hard,  safe 
roof.  The  Little  Pittsburg,  a  seam  of  two  and  a  half  to 
three  feet,  holds  an  excellent  quality  of  coal  for  domestic 
use,  but  I  do  not  know  whether  it  will  make  a  good  coke  or 
not — it  is  a  good  steam  coal.  The  Conglomerate  seam  is 
also  a  good  coal  of  from  three  to  five  feet  in  thickness,  but 
liable  to  layers  of  smut  in  the  interior  of  it,  so  closely  re- 
sembling coal  that  none  but  an  expert  can  well  detect  it. 
The  Helena  is  a  very  good  seam  of  about  four  feet  in  thick- 
ness, and  is  also  used  largely  for  coking  purposes. 

The  following  is  a  section  of  the  Wadsworth  seam  in  this 
tasin : 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   EUEEKA   BASIN. 


71 


[  Wadsworth  seam  in  S.  W.  ^  of  N.  E.  3^,  in  section  20,  toirnship  20,  S., 
range  3,  W  :  rate  of  dip  35°]. 


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Eor  the  relative  position  of  the  seams  of  this  basin,  see 
the  South  and  North  Vertical  Section  and  the  Helena  Hori- 
zontal Section  from  "I"  to  "J"  on  the  accompanying  map. 

The  only  method  of  working  ^the  seams  of  this  basin 
hitherto  practised,  has  been  the  method  largely  used  in 
Pennsylvania  of  working  the  coal  "on  the  run,"  that  is,  by 
driving  the  slope  down  in  the  direction  of  the  dip,  then 
driving  the  gangways  horizontally  from  it,  working  the 
rooms  up  the  rise  at  right  angles  from  the  gangways,  allow- 
ing the  coal  to  run  down  the  room  of  shutes  by  its  own 
gravity  into  the  mine  cars,  a  method  well  suited  to  all  our 
seams  that  have  a  rate  of  dip  of  over  40°:  (instead  of  a 
slope,  a  drift  or  vertical  shaft  can  be  used.)     (a). 

(a)  Thirty  years  ago  the  writer  worked  a  seam  near  Montevallo, 
having  a  rate  of  dip  of  65°  by  the  same  method,  and  found  it  suited 
that  rate  of  dip  the  very  best,  but  owing  to  the  very  steep  dip  I  was 
compelled  to  have  the  miners  keep  their  shutes  full  up  to  their  "room 
breasts"  to  prevent  the  pulverization  of  the  coal  by  flinging  it  violently 
down  an  empty  or  partly  empty  shute ;  the  coal  was  loaded  in  the  mine 
cars  at  tjie  bottom  suflBcienlly  fast,  to  give  the  miners  working  room  at 
the  top  of  the  room  shute  ;  the  run  of  the  coal  was  checked  by  curving 
the  bottom  of  the  shute  a  little,  and  by  using  short  poles  or  planks 
whenever  the  mine  car  was  full.  Very  little  shovelling  was  necessary 
to  load  the  mine  cars;  part  of  the  room  was  posted  off" and  lagged  for 
the  slate  gob  ;  sometimes  the  coal  would  scaffold  or  lodge  a  consider- 
able distance  up  the  shute,  but  a  shot  gun  loaded  with  large  buckshot 
and  fired  up  the  shute  would  loosen  it,  it  being  entirely  too  dangerous 
for  a  man  to  ascend  the  shute  to  loosen  it. 


72  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

For  all  dips  of  40*^  and  upwards,  the  writer  considers  the 
above  method  the  best,  but  whenever  the  rate  of  dip  be- 
comes low  enough  to  prevent  the  coal  descending  the  shute 
of  its  own  accord,  then  it  is  not  feasible  to  keep  the  shute 
full  of  coal  up  to  the  room  breast. 

The  following  four  analysis  of  coal  from  the  seams  of  the 
Eureka  basin  were  made  by  Dr.  Otto  Wuth,  of  Pittsburg, 
Pa ,  each  sample  was  a  barrel  full  of  coal  obtained  by  cut- 
ting a  channelled  section  with  a  pick  through  the  whole 
seam  : 

Helena  Seam  Coed. 

Water 23 

Bitumen 32.53 

Fixed  carbon 61.26 

Ash 5.85 

Sulphur 0.13 

Conglomerate  or  Thompson  Seam  Coal. 

Water 30 

Bitumen 31 .  36 

Fixed  carban ....    65 .  45 

Ash 2 .  81 

Sulphur 08 

Little  Pittsburg  Seam  Coal. 

Water 18 

Bitumen 32.69 

Fixed  carbon   63.40 

Ash 3.52 

Sulphur 0.21 

Moyle  Seam  Coal. 

Water 17 

Bitumen 31.49 

Fixed  carbon 60 .  60 

Ash 7.56 

Sulphur 0.18 

The  two  following  analysis  were  made  by  J.  L.  Beeson, 
from  samples  obtained  from  a  channelled  section  of  the  two 
seams  named  : 

No.  1. — Helena  seam,  from  the  Eureka  Company's  slope 
in  northern  part  of  S.  29,  T.  20,  R.  3,  W. 

No.  2. — Wadsworth  seam,  from  Smith  slope  of  the  Eureka 
Company,  S.  20,  T.  20,  R.  3,  W. 


CAHABA   COAL   FIELD  :   EUREKA  BASIN. 


73 


Moisture 

Volatile  matter 

Fixed  carbon 

Ash 

Sulphur  in  co  il 

fSulphur  in  coke 

Per  cent  of  sulphur  in  coke 


No 

1. 

1 

669 

30 

541 

54 

879 

12 

911 

100  000 

1 

141 

790 

1 

666 

No.  L 

1.098 
34.670 
59  632 

4  600 

100.000 

1  .  275 

.821 

1  278 


CHAPTER    VII, 


TBE  DEY  CEEEK  BASIN. 

The  Dry  Creek  basin  is  situated  three  or  four  miles  south- 
west of  Helena,  and  northeast  of  Gurnee.  It  is  bounded  on 
the  north  by  the  Eureka  basin,  on  the  east  by  the  great 
boundary  fault  that  divides  the  Cambrian  from  the  Carbon- 
iferous measures,  on  the  south  by  the  Piney  Woods  fault 
acid  anticlinal  that  separate  it  from  the  Lolley  basin,  on  the 
southwest  it  is  bounded  by  the  interior  fault  vertical  coal 
measures. 

The  boundary  of  the  Dry  Creek  basin  is  as  follows : 
Commencing  at  a  point  about  two  hundred  yards  northeast 
of  Lacey  depot,  on  the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham 
Railroad,  and  going  thence  along  the  Piney  Woods  fault, 
almost  due  west,  for  about  two  miles ;  thence  along  said 
fault  at  a  bearing  of  about  south  68"^  west,  to  the  southwest 
corner  of  section  15 ;  thence  northwest  to  the  southeast 
edge  of  the  interior  fault  near  the  northwest  corner  of  sec- 
tion 16,  township  21,  range  4  west ;  thence  northeastwards 
along  the  southeast  edge  of  the  interior  fault  to  the  half 
mile  post  on  the  south  side  of  section  25,  township  20, 
range  4  west ;  thence  nearly  east,  or  about  south  83*^  east, 
along  the  Beaver  Dam  fault  to  that  part  cf  the  boundary 
fault  in  section  33,  township  20,  range  3  west,  nearly  oppo- 
site the  Mrs.  Peel  house ;  thence  south  by  a  few  degrees 
west  along  the  boundary  fault,  passing  close  by  the  south- 
west corner  of  section  33,  leaving  the  Mrs.  Draper  house  a 
few  yards  to  the  right,  passing  close  by  the  middle  of  sec- 
tion 5,  then  curving  around  with  the  boundary  fault  a  little 
more  eastward,  to  the  point  of  beginning  at  the  boundary 
fault  two  hundred  yards  northeast  of  Lacey  depot. 

This  basin  is  drained  by  the  Cahaba  river  and  its  tribu- 
taries, Beaver  Dam  Creek,  Dave  Redding  Creek,  Peel's 
Creek,  Buzzard  Creek,  Piney  Woods  Creek,  and  Dry  Creek. 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   DRY   CREEK  BASIN.  75 

The  most  prominent  ridge  in  this  basin  is  the  high  ridge 
over  the  synclinal  of  the  basin  near  the  southwest  corner  of 
section  5,  township  21,  range  3  west ;  in  this  high  ridge  is 
seen  the  roof  rock  of  the  Montevallo  seam  ;  I  saw  the  out- 
crop of  said  seam  in  the  bank  of  Dry  Creek  twenty  years 
ago,  but  it  is  now  covered  up  by  the  wash  from  the  hill. 

Another  prominent  ridge  in  this  basin  is  that  known  as 
the  "Divide,"  and  it  is  formed  of  the  roof  rocks  of  the  Hel- 
ena seam,  running  parallel  with  the  outcrop  of  said  seam 
from  Piney  Woods  Creek  to  near  the  northeast  corner  of 
the  basin.  This  ridge,  after  it  leaves  the  Stinson  place, 
near  Piney  Woods  Creek,  runs  northeast  for  about  four 
miles,  then  turns  nearly  east  to  the  edge  of  the  coal  field 
opposite  the  Fountain  Wyatt  and  Mrs.  Peel  farms. 

This  basin  is  five  and  a  half  miles  in  length  by  an  aver- 
age width  of  two  miles  and  two-tenths.  It  contains  a  sur- 
face area  of  twelve  and  one-tenth  square  miles,  and  con- 
tains in  workable  seams  of  two  feet  and  upwards  in  thick- 
ness 202,000,000  of  tons  of  coal,  (2,000  pounds,)  without 
making  any  allowance  for  loss  in  mine  pillars,  or  waste  in 
mining  ;  this  amount  of  coal  is  within  a  limit  of  4,300  feet 
in  vertical  depth. 

The  wagon  roads  of  this  basin  are  the  two  Lindsey  roads 
(made  by  James  Lindsey);  one  of  them  runs  from  his  place 
in  the  northeast  corner  of  section  3,  township  21,  range  4 
wei?t,  bearing  southeast  through  the  south  half  of  the  basin 
and  joins  the  Helena  and  Montevallo  wagon  road  at  the 
Mrs.  Lacey  place  and  the  Carroll  place.  The  other  Lind- 
sey road  leaves  the  Lindsey  farm  and  runs  northeast  along 
the  strike  of  the  seams  to  Helena.  Another  wagon  road 
leaves  the  Helena  and  Montevallo  road  at  the  Mrs.  Peel 
place  and  the  Fountain  Wyatt  place,  and  follows  along  the 
top  of  the  Divide  ridge  down  to  Piney  Woods  Creek — this 
road  leads  to  Gurnee.  Another  wagon  road  leaves  the 
William  Lacey  place  in  'Possum  Valley  and  following  along 
the  edge  of  the  basin  leads  to  the  Ryan  place  on  the 
"Divide,"  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the  basin. 

The  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad  ex- 
tends along  the  south  boundary  of  the  basin  for  a  distance 
of  about  five  miles. 


76  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

The  Blocton  Branch  of  the  Birmingham  Mineral  Railroad 
passes  through  the  western  portion  of  the  basin  for  a  dis- 
tance of  five  miles,  extending  on  to  Gurnee,  and,  having  a 
lease  from  the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Boad 
from  Gurnee  to  Blocton,  the  same  road  is  enabled  to  con- 
nect with  Blocton. 

The  principal  workable  seams  of  this  basin  are  the  Buck 
seam,  Blackshale  seam,  Conglomerate  seam,  Helena  seam, 
and  the  Montevallo  seam.  The  Shute  and  the  Coke  seam 
are  in  workable  condition  southwest  of  this  in  the  Dailey 
Creek  basin,  but  in  this  basin,  a  thorough  test  along  their 
outcrops  will  have  to  decide  their  condition  for  mining  pur- 
poses. 

The  rate  of  dip  of  these  measures  in  this  basin  varies 
from  2^  or  3^  in  that  portion  south  of  Dry  Creek,  to  80°  at 
the  south  edge  of  the  basin  next  to  the  Piney  Woods  fault. 
The  measures  on  the  west  or  northwest  side  have  an  inter- 
mediate rate  of  dip  between  the  dips  of  the  two  previously 
mentioned  points. 

The  South  and  North  and  the  Dailey  Creek  Vertical  Section 
and  the  Dry  Creek  Horizontal  Section  from  "K"  to  "L,"  on 
the  accompanying  map,  show  the  relative  position  of  the 
seams  of  this  basin. 

There  has  been  no  mining  done  in  this  basin  except  a  lit- 
tle outcrop  coal  dug  for  blacksmith  purposes  by  the  farm- 
ers in  the  neighborhood,  no  underground  work  has  been 
done  in  any  part  of  it  up  to  this  date. 

There  is  an  immense  amount  of  coal  nearly  level  in  this 
basin  with  the  advantage  of  two  recently  constructed  rail- 
roads, now  nearly  finished,  running  through  and  alongside 
of  it — the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  on  the  south 
edge  of  it,  and  the  Birmingham  Mineral  in  the  northwest 
portion  of  it.  This  basin  has  been  a  wild,  sparsely  settled 
country  up  to  about  twelve  months  ago  ;  two  years  ago  no 
one  lived  in  the  interior  of  the  basin  ;  at  that  time  the  only 
settlers  about  it  were  Mrs.  Draper  and  her  son,  D.  D. 
Draper,  Herve  and  Burt  Carroll  on  the  east  boundary  of 
the  basin,  Columbus  Benton  on  the  north  boundary,  and 
James  Lindsey  on  the  western  boundary  of  the  basin.  This 
basin  bids  fair  to  become  the  scene  of  busy  mining  opera- 
tions in  the  near  future. 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :  DRY  CREEK  BASIN. 


77 


The  following  is  a  measured  section  of  the  Helena  seam 
at  its  southern  outcrop  in  section  12,  the  measures  here 
having  a  very  steep  rate  of  dip : 

[Helena  seam  in  section  12,  township  21  S.,  range  4  W.;  direction  of  strike 
N.  65°  E.,  S.  65°  W.  magnetic;  direction  of  dip  N.  25°  W.;  rate  of 
dip  80°  from  horizontal. 

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CHAPTER  VIIL 


THE  GOULD  BASIN. 

The  Gould  basin  is  situated  to  the  north  of  Guruee,  to 
the  southwest  of  Helena,  and  on  the  northwe&t  side  of  the 
Cahaba  Coal  Field  ;  it  is  bounded  on  the  southeast  side  by 
the  Interior  fault  vertical  coal  measures,  on  the  northeast 
end  by  the  Cahaba  basin,  on  the  northwest  side  by  the  Sub- 
Carboniferous  measures  of  Shades  Valley,  on  its  southwest 
end  by  the  Blocton  basin. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  boundary  of  said 
basin  :  Commencing  on  the  northwest  edge  of  the  Interior 
fault  vertical  measures,  near  the  mouth  of  Lainey  Branch  ; 
thence  northwest  along  Lainey  Branch  to  the  base  of  the 
Millstone  Grit  at  a  point  a  half  a  mile  northeast  of  Genery's 
Gap  where  the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Rail- 
road cuts  through  Shades  Mountain ;  thence  southwest 
along  the  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit,  crossing  the  Brier- 
field,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad  at  the  northwest 
end  of  the  Genery  Gap  Railroad  cut  in  Shades  Mountain  ; 
continuing  on  southwest  along  the  base  of  the  Millstone 
Grit,  Shades  Valley  being  in  plain  view,  leaving  the  Richard 
Tyler  house  and  the  Squire  John  Harmon  house  to  your 
left ;  from  opposite  the  John  Harmon  house  your  course 
will  be  more  westward,  (about  70^  west,)  continuing  along 
the  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit,  crossing  Shades  Creek  a 
short  distance  below  the  mouth  of  Roup's  Creek,  leaving 
Kimbrall's  Mill  to  your  right,  until  you  arrive  at  a  sharp 
bend  in  Shades  Mountain  in  the  south  end  of  section  3, 
township  21,  range  5  west ;  from  this  point  southeastwards 
along  the  wagon  road  that  leads  from  Booth's  Ferry  to 
Roup's  Iron  Works,  crossing  Shades  Creek  near  Shades 
Creek  church,  leaving  the  Miller  farm  and  the  flat  measures 
of  the  Blocton  basin  to  your  right ;  crossing  the  Cahaba 
River  at  Booth's  Ferry  near  the  mouth  of  Lick  Creek';  a 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   GOULD   BASIN.  79 

few  yards  farther  brirgs  ^ou  to  the  Interior  fault  vertical 
coal  measures  ;  thence  northeastwards  along  the  northwest 
edge  of  the  vertical  measures  of  the  Interior  fault,  crossing 
Cahaba  river  again  in  the  southwest  corner  of  section  17, 
township  21,  range  4  west ;  continuing  along  the  edge  of 
said  fault,  crossing  Ward's  Creek,  Shaw's  Creek,  mouth  of 
Hurricane  Creek,  the  two  Sandstone  branches;  crossing 
Trigger  Creek  and  continuing  on  to  opposite  the  mouth  of 
Lainey  Branch,  the  point  of  commencement;  this  point  is 
about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  northeast  of  Lainey  Ford, 

The  Gould  basin  is  drained  by  the  Cahaba  river  and  its 
tributaries — Shades  Creek,  Hancock  Creek,  Ward's  Creek, 
Shaw's  Creek,  Hurricane  Creek,  Little  Sandstone  Branch, 
Big  Sandstone  Branch,  Trigger  Creek  and  Lainey  Branch. 

The  most  prominent  ridge  in  this  basin  is  Shades  Moun- 
tain ;  at  the  southwest  end  of  this  basin  it  is  named  Sand 
Mountain.  The  next  one  in  size  and  prominence  is  the  one 
next  to  Shades  Mountain  on  its  southeast  side ;  running 
parallel  with  it.  This  is  called  Pine  Eidge  in  the  northeast 
end  of  the  basin — but  is  named  House  Mountain  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  basin,  and  Hurricane  Eidge  in  the  southwest  end 
of  the  basin.  The  next  one  in  size  and  prominence  is  Eed 
Eidge.  This  one,  on  the  South  and  North  Alabama  Eail- 
road,  is  called  Eed  or  Chestnut  Eidge,  and  contains  the 
upper  measures  of  the  Millstone  Grit  formation. 

These  three  ridges  just  mentioned  are  all  parallel  with 
one  another  from  one  end  of  the  basin  to  the  other.  At 
the  southwest  end  they  become  broken.  There  are  other 
ridges  of  less  prominence,  mostly  running  parallel  with 
those  above  mentioned.  All  these  ridges  are  cut  by  some 
of  the  smaller  creeks  and  branches,  except  Shades  or  Sand 
Mountain ;  this  mountain  is  cut  through  only  in  one  place, 
that  is  at  the  southwest  end  of  the  basin  where  Shades 
Creek  cuts  a  eap  in  it,  in  its  course  from  Shades  Valley  to 
Cahaba  river. 

The  length  of  this  basin  is  nine  and  three-quarter  miles 
by  an  average  width  of  two  and  two-tenths  miles,  and  it 
contains  a  surface  area  of  twenty-one  and  a  half  square 
miles.  It  contains  in  seams  of  two  feet  and  upwards  of 
workable   coal,  77,000,000    tons    (2,000  pounds),  within  a 


80  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

limit  of  2,500  feet  in  vertical  depth ;  in  this  computation 
no  allowance  is  made  for  loss  in  pillars,  or  waste  in  mining 
the  coal. 

The  principal  wagon  roads  in  this  basin  are  the  Tusca- 
loosa and  Columbiana  road — this  road  enters  the  southwest 
end  of  the  basin  near  Shades  Creek  church,  and  continues 
along  the  foot  of  the  southeast  side  of  Eed  Ridge  nearly  all 
the  way  to  Lainey  Ford  where  it  leaves  the  basin.  The 
next  wagon  road  in  importance  is  the  one  at  the  scuthwest 
end  of  the  basin  leading  from  Booth's  Ferry  to  Tannehill 
Station,  on  the  Alabama  Great  Southern  Railroad.  Another 
wagon  road  connecting  Brock's  Station  with  John  Har- 
mon's place  and  Kimbrall's  Mill,  leads  along  the  top  of 
Shades  Mountain  from  near  Brock's  Gap  to  John  Harmon's, 
there  it  descends  the  north  side  of  the  mountain  and  leads 
to  Kimbrall's  Mill  in  Shades  Valley.  Another  wagon  road 
leaves  the  Columbiana  and  Tuscaloosa  road,  where  said 
road  intersects  Hurricane  Creek,  follows  up  the  side  of 
Hurricane  Creek  passing  close  by  Lindsey's  old  mill  and 
gin  joining  the  road  on  the  top  of  Shades  Mountain  at  Rich- 
ard Tyler's.  Another  wagon  road  leaves  the  Tuscaloosa  and 
Columbiana  road  two  or  three  hundred  yards  southwest  of 
Lainey  Ford,  passes  through  the  Horton  and  Doss  places, 
then  through  Genery's  Gap  to  Bessemer  and  Birmingham. 

The  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad  enters 
the  basin  at  the  north  end  of  sec' ion  9,  township  21,  range 
4  west,  follows  up  Ward's  Creek,  passing  through  gaps  in 
Red  Ridge  and  House  Mountain  or  Pine  Ridge  ;  then  pass- 
ing through  the  deep  cut  in  Shades  Mountain  at  Genery's 
Gap;  thence  across  Shades  Valley  passing  through  Spark's 
Gap  in  Red  Mountain  and  on  to  Bessemer  and  Birmingham 
over  the  Alabama  Great  Southern  Railroad.  This  part  of 
the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad  extends 
from  Gurnee  to  its  junction  with  the  Alabama  Great  South- 
ern at  a  point  about  three  miles  southwest  of  Bessemer. 
In  its  course  it  passes  over  the  outcrop  of  the  Gould  seam. 

The  most  important  and  valuable  seam  in  this  basin  is 
the  Gould  seam  ;  it  extends  the  whole  length  of  the  basin. 
A  few  years  ago,  J.  L.  Davis  made  a  series  of  tests  along 
the  outcrop  for  about  six  miles  in  this  basin,  and  as  a  result 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   GOULD  BASIN. 


81 


of  said  tests,  reported  that  the  average  thickness  of  the 
Gould  seam  was  about  three  feet.  This  seam  has  the  repu- 
tation of  makiog  a  coke  equal  to  the  Pocahontas,  for  iron 
smelting  purposes,  and  it  can  be  easily  mined ;  probably  in 
the  future  it  will  supply  a  good  part  of  the  demand  for  a 
superior  coke.  Twenty  years  ago  it  had  the  best  reputation 
of  any  in  the  State,  as  making  a  good  cupola  or  iron  foun- 
dry coke.  The  Gould  seam  in  this  basin  is  not  yet  mined, 
as  the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad  is  not 
yet  completed,  so  at  present  there  are  no  facilities  for  ship- 
ping it  from  this  basin.  That  part  of  this  seam  next  to  the 
South  and  North  Alabama  Railroad  is  so  divided  up  by 
rival  ownerships  that  there  is  little  possibility  of  its  being 
mined  there  until  some  of  the  owners  either  form  a  combi- 
nation or  solidify  the  tracts  by  purchase,  thus  making  the 
tract  area  of  fair  working  size. 

The  next  seam  in  extent  in  this  basin  is  the  Nunnally 
seam,  which  the  tests  in  this  locality  find  to  contain  two 
feet  nine  inches  of  coal ;  still,  a  more  thorough  test  along  the 
outcrop  may  prove  it  to  have  a  slightly  larger  or  smaller 
average  thickness.  This  basin  has  also  a  limited  amount 
of  the  Wadsworth  seam,  with  an  average  thickness  of  three 
feet  three  inches.  This  is  a  first-class  seam  for  iron  manu- 
facturing purposes. 

The  following  is  a  section  of  the  Gould  seam  : 

W.  y^  of  N.  W.  }/i,  in  section  24,  toionship  20  S.,  range 


[  Gould  sea7n  in  N. 
4  W]. 


^£0    s/T/Za  sj-  o/v/^ 
S/^Efiy   Of   <fOOJD    CO/^L 


The  South  and  North  Vertical  Section,  and  the  Dry  Creek 
6 


82  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

Horizontal  Section  from  "K"  to  "L,"  on  the  accompanying 
map,  will  give  the  relative  position  of  the  seams  in  this 
basin ;  the  Dry  Creek  Horizontal  Section  showing  the  form 
or  structure  of  the  basin  and  its  connection  with  the  Sub- 
Carboniferous  and  the  Interior  fault  vertical  measures. 

The  rate  of  dip  of  the  measures  of  this  basin  varies 
mostly  between  fifteen  and  twenty-two  degiees,  and  in 
some  localities  considerably  more  ;  the  dip  is  nearly  every- 
where towards  the  southeast.  There  has  been  no  mining 
hitherto  in  this  basin  as  above  stated,  as  it  is  only  recently 
that  railroads  have  begun  to  be  constructed  here.  This, 
though,  will  soon  be  a  thing  of  the  past,  for  at  present  a 
great  number  of  loud  reports  like  the  discharge  of  distant 
cannon  can  be  heard  daily  and  hourly  made  by  the  blasting 
operations  going  on  in  the  construction  of  the  Brierfield, 
Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad  through  this  basin. 

Note. — I  have  the  information  from  a  source  that  appears  to  be 
trustworthy,  that  in  S.  12,  T.  20,  R.  4  W,  in  Genery's  Gap,  the  Brock 
seam  has  been  exposed  in  the  railroad  cut,  and  shows  a  thickness  of 
four  feet.  E.  A.  S. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


THE    LOLLEY    BASIN. 

The  Lolley  basin  is  situated  to  the  east  of  Gurnee,  to  the 
southwest  of  Helena,  and  to  the  northwest  of  Montevallo ; 
it  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Piney  Woods  fault  and 
Dry  Creek  basin,  on  the  east  by  the  great  boundary  fault, 
on  the  west  by  Dailey  Creek  basin  aod  a  portion  of  the 
Montevallo  basin,  on  the  south  by  the  Montevallo  basin 
and  the  anticlinal  between  it  and  the  Lolley  basin. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  boundary  of  the 
Lolley  basin :  Commencing  at  a  point  about  two  hundred 
yards  northeast  of  Lacey  depot  on  the  Brierfield,  Blocton 
and  Birmingham  Railroad  ;  thence  along  the  Piney  Woods 
fault  almost  due  west  for  about  two  miles  along  the  fault 
thence  along  the  said  fault  at  a  bearing  of  about  S.  68° 
W.,  to  the  southwest  corner  of  section  15,  township  21, 
range  4  west ;  thence  south  and  southeastwards  up  Jesse's 
Creek  to  the  southeast  corner  of  section  35,  township  21, 
range  4  west;  thence  almost  due  east  along  the  anticlinal 
between  the  Lolley  and  Montevallo  basins  to  opposite  Dog- 
wood Grove  Church  on  the  east  edge  of  the  boundary  fault ; 
thence  northwards  along  the  west  edge  of  the  boundary 
fault,  passing  to  the  left  of  Mayline  depot,  continuing  along 
the  boundary  fault  to  the  point  of  commencement  near 
Lacey  depot. 

This  basin  is  drained  by  Piney  Woods  Creek,  Beaver 
Dam  Creek,  Shoal  Creek,  King's  Creek,  Jesse's  Creek,  and 
Lick,  or  Big  Creek. 

The  most  prominent  ridge  in  this  basin  is  the  "Divide,'' 
mostly  called  Pea  Pvidge,  that  separates  the  waters  drain- 
ing into  the  Cahaba  river  from  those  draining  into  Shoal 
Creek  or  Little  Cahaba  river ;  this  divide  commences  west 
of  the  Mayline  depot  and  southwest  of  the  Lacey  depot  on 
the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad,  and  con- 


84  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

tinues  southwestwards  dividing  the  drainage  as  aforesaid, 
down  to  where  the  Little  Cahaba  river  joins  the  Big  Cahaba 
river  in  Bibb  county;  this  high  and  prominent  ridge  has 
been  the  great  obstacle  to  the  construction  of  a  straight  line 
of  railroad  through  this  part  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  the 
bend  of  the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad 
at  Lacey  depot  became  a  necessity  in  order  to  obtain  easy 
grades.  This  ridge  is  made  by  the  Montevallo  Conglom- 
erate. The  next  prominent  ridge  is  the  one  south  of  Piney 
Woods  fault,  commencing  at  the  east  edge  of  the  coal  field 
opposite  William  Lacey's  farm  and  continuing  westwards 
for  four  or  five  miles  on  the  south  side  of  Piney  Woods 
Creek.  There  are  also  a  number  of  irregularly  formed 
ridges  besides  the  above  in  other  parts  of  the  basin. 

There  are  no  public  roads  in  this  basin ;  what  wagon 
roads  there  are  in  it,  are  better  fitted  for  oxen  than  any 
other  animals.  The  principal  road  in  the  basin  is  the  one 
that  leaves  the  Montevallo  and  Elyton  road  at  William 
Lacey's  and  follows  the  top  of  the  high  ridge  south  of  Piney 
Woods  Creek,  and  leads  on  to  the  Henry  Clark  house  ; 
thence  to  the  Anderson  Allen  house,  here  making  a  turn 
south  and  going  to  Newton  Lolley's  place,  continuing  on  to 
the  Bethel  church  on  the  Montevallo  and  Boothtown  wagon 
road.  The  next  wagon  road  in  importance  is  the  one  lead- 
ing from  William  Lacey  place  to  Elias  Walker's  place,  pass- 
ing Dustin  Dean's  place  and  Isaac  Walker's  place  on  the 
way,  then,  at  Elias  Walker's  branching  off,  one  prong  lead- 
ing to  Dogwood  Station,  the  other  to  the  Montevallo  and 
Boothtown  road  at  the  Mrs.  Lucas  place,  and  to  Bethel 
church  by  Newton  Lolley's.  These  are  all  rougn  roads, 
and  will  not  admit  of  hauling  heavy  loads  along  them, 
There  are  other  roads  to  which  the  name  of  trails  would  bo 
most  appropriate,  one  going  down  Piney  Woods  Creek 
bank  to  the  old  Ryan  place,  another  to  the  Henry  Lee  place, 
another  to  the  Henry  Lolley  old  place ;  these  are  partly 
grown  up,  and  they  are  barely  safe  to  venture  along  with  a 
vehicle.  The  Elyton  and  Montevallo  wagon  road  is  a  pub- 
lic road;  it  follows  along  the  east  boundary  of  this  basin  in 
'Possum  Valley  but  outside  of  the  basin,  passing  close  by 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   LOLLEY  BASIN.  85 

Wilderness  church,  the  Reneau  place,  Columbus  Harper's, 
and  the  William  Lacey  farm. 

The  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad  fol- 
lows close  along  the  eastern  and  northern  boundaries  of 
this  basin,  joining  the  Birmingham  Mineral  at  Piney  Woods 
Station  and  Gurnee  Station,  there  connecting  with  Blocton 
and  Bessemer  and  Birmingham,  and  the  Birmingham  Min- 
eral Railroad  to  Helena  and  Birmingham  ;  the  south  end  of 
said  road  connects  with  the  East  Tennessee,  Virginia  and 
Georgia  Railroad  at  a  point  one  mile  southwest  of  Monte- 
vallo. 

The  length  of  the  Lolley  basin  is  five  and  a  quarter  miles 
by  an  average  width  of  three  and  fourteen  hundredths 
miles ;  its  surface  area  is  sixteen  and  a  half  square  miles. 
The  amount  of  workable  coal  it  contains,  in  seams  of  two 
feet  and  upwards  in  thickness,  and  within  a  vertical  depth 
of  4,400  feet,  is  357,000,000  tons  (of  2,000  pounds).  This 
computation  makes  no  allowance  for  loss  in  pillars,  or  waste 
in  mining. 

The  lowest  workable  seam  outcropping  in  this  basin  is 
the  Gholson ;  it  outcrops  in  a  few  places  along  the  Piney 
Woods  fault,  but  in  most  places  along  this  fault  the  seam 
is  down  in  the  fault.  I  have  made  a  slight  effort  to  cut  its 
outcrop  in  that  locality,  but  lack  of  time  prevented  me  giv- 
ing it  a  thorough  test  along  the  outcrop.  This  is  an  excel- 
lent seam  with  a  good  sandstone  roof,  in  places  having  a 
thin  layer  of  compact  slate  at  the  top  of  it ;  and  it  will  aver- 
age in  thickness,  in  my  estimation,  four  feet  of  good  coal 
without  slate  partings.  The  next  seam  above  this  and  out- 
cropping farther  south,  is  the  Little  Pittsburgh,  then  above 
this  and  underlying  the  Conglomerate,  is  the  Thompson  or 
Conglomerate  seam,  then  still  farther  southward  is  the  out- 
crop of  the  Helena  seam,  of  which  the  following  is  a  meas- 
ured section  : 


86 


GEOLOGICAL   SUliVEY   OF   ALABAMA. 


[Helena  seam  in  sectioii  18,  township  21,  range  3  W.;  direction  of  strike  N. 
75°  E.;  S.  75°  W.  magnetic;  direction  of  dip  S.  15°  E.  magnetic;  rate 


of  dip  S8^]. 


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As  will  be  seen  the  Helena  has  two  thin  layers  of  slate  in 
it.  The  Helena  seam  has  higher  rate  of  dip  here  than  it 
has  further  west,  but  is  thicker  at  this  point,  haring  four 
feet  eight  inches  of  coal.  The  following  is  another  section 
of  the  Helena  seam  with  a  less  rate  of  dip  : 

[Helena  Seam  in  Section  13,  Township  21  S.,  Range  4  W.;  direction  of 
strike  N.  41°  E.;  direction  of  dip  S.  40°  E.;  rate  of  dip  13°.] 


■' r'=>'^T  'O //^c/^jES     CO/7L 

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The  next  seam  of  workable  thickness  outcropping  above 
this,  and  farther  south  is  the  Yeshic  seam.  While  I  have 
not  seen  this  seam  more  than  two  and  a  half  to  three  feet 


OAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   LOLLEY  BASIN. 


87 


thick  in  this  basin,  yet  in  the  Dailey  Creek  and  Blocton 
basin  it  becomes  four  to  five  feet  in  thickness. 

The  next  workable  seam  outcropping  still  farther  south, 
in  this  basin  is  the  Montevallo  seam  ;  this  seam  is  thicker 
here  than  its  average  thicknsss  in  the  Montevallo  Basin. 
The  following  is  a  measured  section  : 

[Montevallo  Seam  in  section  24,  township  21  S  ,  range  4  W.] 


t'O  //Vc/ZizTS     (fOOD      C.O/=fL 
-  yv'o/y/rs    tv/V/7-X    aLf/j-e: 

J  fn-Dj     Copl. 


Above  the  Montevallo  there  are  nearly  five  hundred  feet 
of  conglomerate  interlarded  with  sandstones  and  slate.  In 
this  conglomerate  formation,  there  are  four  seams  of  coa!, 
all  of  them  either  too  thin  or  too  impure  to  be  workable. 
The  first  one,  the  "Air-shaft  Seem,"  is  about  one  hundred 
feet  above  the  Montevallo  ;  the  next  one  above  this  is  the 
Black  Fireclay  seam  of  which  the  following  is  a  measured 
section  : 


.".'j-?;J 

—    - 





— 



M 
^ 

^ 

;^^^^ 
^ 

GEOLOGICAL  SUEYEY  OF  ALABAMA. 


[Black  Fireclay  Seam  in  the  N.  W.  corner  of  section  35,  township  21  S., 
range  4  W.;  rate  of  dij)  2°.] 


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The  next  seam  above  this  is  the  Stine  seam  ;  the  top  seam 
is  the  Luke  seam,  which  can  be  seen  above  the  Big  Fall  on 
Davis'  Creek,  at  one  of  my  test  drifts  made  before  or  about 
the  beginning  of  the  late  war  ;  the  roof  is  a  thick  ledge  of 
conglomerate. 

A  peculiar  feature  marks  that  part  of  the  Cahaba  Coal 
Field  having  the  Montevallo  seam  underneath  it,  viz  :  the 
ground  is  covered  with  scattering  pebbles  where  the  con- 
glomerate measures  come  to  the  surface  ;  where  the  sand- 
stones outcrop  an  absence  of  the  pebbles  will  be  noticed 
through  a  belt  or  strip  of  country  until  the  next  ledge  of 
conglomerate  with  its  pebbles  come  to  the  surface.  This  is 
the  case  over  a  large  area  of  the  Lolley  basin.  The  outcrop 
of  the  Montevallo  seam  on  the  accompanying  map  will 
show  its  limit. 

There  is  another,  and  in  places,  a  thick  ledge  of  conglom- 
erate over  the  Thompson  seam  ;  it  shows  plainly  on  the 
surface,  but  this  must  not  be  confused  with  the  conglomer- 
ate above  the  Montevallo,  as  it  is  a  long  distance  underneath 
the  Montevallo  seam.  There  is  another  thin  ledge  of  con- 
glomerate still  below  the  above,  this  one  is  near  the  lower 
bench  of  the  Mammoth  seam,  or  Clarke.  This  will  not 
cause  confusion  in  this  basin  as  it  is  close  to  or  in  the  Piney 
Woods  fault. 

The  conglomerate  formation  above  the  Montevallo  seam, 
has  the  purest  springs  of  free  stone  water  in  the  territory 
where  they  come  to  the  surface,  of  any  in  this  section  of 
country.  Wherever  it  forms^the  surface  rock,  its  topography 
being  high  or  rolling,  it  is  remarkably  healthy,  probably 
more  so  than  any  other  part  of  the  State.  For  a  more  de- 
tailed statement  or  description  of  these  ledges  of  conglom- 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   LOLLEY  BASIN.  89 

erate,  see  the  section  given  in  the  first  chapter.  For  the 
relative  position  of  the  seams  of  this  basin,  see  the  Bailey 
Creek  Vertical  Section,  and  the  Dn/  Greek  Horizontal  Section, 
from  "K"  to  "L,"  on  the  accompanying  map. 

The  rate  of  dip  of  the  measures  of  this  basin  varies  from 
fifty  degrees  on  its  north  edge,  next  to  the  Piney  Woods 
fault,  to  one  or  two  degrees  at  the  synclinal  south  of  the 
Elias  Walker  place.  At  a  point  at  about  half  a  mile  east  of 
the  Elias  Walker  house  Lick  Creek  falls  about  one  hundred 
feet  vertical  over  a  perpendicular  cliff  of  conglomerate  ; 
this  is  known  in  the  settlement  near  as  the  "Big  Falls." 
There  has  been  no  mining  done  hitherto  in  this  basin ;  the 
country  is  sparsely  settled,  about  two  years  ago  six  families 
were  all  the  inhabitants  it  then  had  ;  they  were  Elias 
Walker  and  his  son  Isaac  Walker,  Newton  Lolley,  Anderson 
Allen,  Henry  Clark,  and  a  well  respected  colored  man 
namea  Dustin  Lee  and  his  family.  The  Lolley  Basin  is 
healthy  but  not  well  adapted  for  farming  purposes,  except 
along  the  creek  bottoms. 

My  first  examination  of  this  basin  was  made  in  1860, 
when  I  was  employed  by  the  Alabama  Coal  Mining  Com- 
pany to  make  a  preliminary  survey  of  their  lands  in  this 
basin,  and  to  make  a  more  thorough  survey  of  their  lands 
in  that  portion  of  the  Montevallo  Basin  which  was  then 
tapped  by  their  branch  railroad. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  MONTEYALLO  BASIN. 

The  Montevallo  Basin  is  situated  to  the  northwest  of 
Montevallo,  and  to  the  southeast  of  Guruee.  It  is  bounded 
on  the  north  by  the  Lolley  Basin,  on  the  east  by  the  great 
boundary  fault  that  separates  the  Carboniferous  from  the 
Cambrian  measures,  on  the  southeast  by  the  Overturned 
measures  and  the  fault  separating  them  from  the  Montevallo 
Basin,  on  the  southwest  and  west  by  the  Dailey  Creek  Ba- 
sin, and  on  the  north  by  the  Lolley  Basin. 

The  following  is  an  outline  of  the  boundary  of  the  Mon- 
tevallo Basin  :  Commencing  at  a  point  three  hundred  yards 
southeast  of  the  Baker  Mine  entrance,  at  that  part  of  the 
boundary  fault  where  the  fault  immediately  north  of  the 
"Over-turned  measures"  intersects  it,  thence  south  twenty- 
two  degrees  west,  along  the  fault  between  the  Over-turned 
measures  and  the  Montevallo  Basin  a  distance  of  one  and 
three-quarter  miles,  to  a  point  where  that  fault  intersects 
Little  Mayberry  Creek  ;  thence  in  a  northwestwardly  direc- 
tion along  the  anticlinal,  crossing  Walker's  Camp  Branch, 
Jim's  Branch,  and  Big  Mayberry  Creek,  to  the  northwest 
corner  of  section  15,  township  22,  range  4  west;  thence  due 
north  along  the  section  line  on  the  west  side  of  sections  10 
and  3,  to  the  southwest  corner  of  section  34,  township  21, 
range  4  west;  thence  due  northeast  to  the  northeast  corner 
of  said  section  34 ;  thence  southeastwardly  up  Jesse's  creek 
to  the  southeast  corner  of  section  35,  township  21,  range  4 
west ;  thence  nearly  due  east  along  the  anticlinal  between 
the  Lolley  Basin  and  the  Montevallo  Basin  to  nearly  oppo- 
site Dogwood  Grove  Church  at  the  east  edge  of  the  boun- 
dary fault,  leaving  the  Davis  Creek  Falls  to  your  right  and 
the  Ed.  Davis'  house  to  your  left,  to  a  point  about  three 
hundred  yards  southeast  of  Baker  Mine,  the  point  of  com- 
mencement. 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   MONTEVALLO   BASIN.  91 

This  basin  is  drained  by  King's  Creek,  Davis'  Creek, 
Little  Mayberry  Creek,  Walker's  Camp  Creek,  Jim's 
Branch,  Big  Mayberry  Creek,  Lovelady  Branch,  Savage 
Creek,  Rocky  Branch  and  Jesse's  Creek. 

The  highest  and  most  prominent  ridge  in  this  basin  is 
Pea  Ridge  (formed  by  the  Montevallo  conglomerate),  a  high 
ridge,  flat  in  places,  that  divides  the  waters  draining  into 
Little  Cahaba  River,  and  those  draining  into  the  Big  Cahaba 
River  ;  it  is  irregular  in  shape,  becoming  high  between  the 
head  waters  of  the  creeks  and  branches  that  drain  it.  Its 
altitude  above  Shoal  Creek  is  over  400  feet  in  places. 
There  are  various  other  ridges  also  due  to  the  Montevallo 
conglomerate,  between  the  head  waters  of  Big  Mayberry 
Creek,  Jim's  Creek,  Little  Mayberry  Creek  and  Davis' 
Creek  that  are  in  vertical  height  above  Shoal  Creek  over 
three  hundred  feet  of  barometrical  measurement.  The  re- 
markable feature  of  these  ridges,  is  the  immense  amount 
of  conglomerate  pebbles  scattered  over  the  ground,  where 
the  difierent  layers  of  the  great  Montevallo  conglomerate 
(above  seam  of  same  name)  crop  out  at  the  surface  ;  all  of 
the  high  lands  underlaid  by  this  Montevallo  conglomerate 
are  remarkably  healthy. 

The  principal  wagon  roads  of  this  basin  are  the  Monte- 
vallo and  Boothtown  or  Gurnee  road  ;  the  Columbiana  and 
Booth's  Ferry  road  ;  the  Aldrich  and  Blocton  road  ;  the 
road  from  Bethel  Church  along  Pea  Ridge  ;  and  the  Aid- 
rich  and  Dogwood  Grove  road ;  besides  these  there  are 
various  other  roads  partly  grown  up  with  undergrowth,  and 
former  roads  that  are  now  used  as  cattle  trails  or  bridle 
paths. 

Of  railroads  in  this  basin,  the  Brierfield,  Blocton,  and 
Birmingham  railroad  runs  close  along  its  eastern  edge,  with 
stations  at  Dogwood  and  at  Aldrich  ;  the  Montevallo  Coal 
and  Transportation  company  have  a  short  line  of  railroad 
running  from  their  slope  in  the  Montevallo  seam,  in  the 
southeast  quarter  of  section  24,  township  22,  range  4  west, 
and  joining  the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  rail- 
road a  short  distance  south  of  Aldrich  depot ;  these  are  all 
the  railroads  connected  with  the  basin  at  present. 

This  basin  is  four  and  one-tenth  miles  (4  1-10)  in  length, 


92  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

by  an  average  width  of  three  and  three  tenths  (3  3-10)  miles, 
and  contains  a  surface  area  of  thirteen  and  eighty-six  hund- 
redths (13  86-100  square  miles. 

The  amount  of  workable  coal  it  contains  in  seams  of  two 
feet  and  upward  in  thickness,  is  300,000,000  of  tons  (of 
2,000  pounds,)  without  any  allowance  being  made  for  loss  in 
pillars  or  waste  in  mining. 

The  lowest  workable  seam  outcropping  in  this  basin  is 
the  Montevallo  seam  ;  it  is  also  the  highest  outcropping 
workable  seam  in  the  basin.  There  are  six  other  seams  out- 
cropping in  this  basin  besides  the  Montevallo  seam,  two 
below  and  four  above  the  Montevallo,  but  all  six  are  either 
too  thin  or  too  impure  to  be  workable.  My  examinations 
and  tests  of  the  most  of  these  thin  seams  were  made  twenty- 
eight  years  ago ;  I  have  tested  the  others  at  various  times 
since.  My  tests  in  the  two  below  the  Montevallo  were  made 
on  Walker's  Camp  Branch  ;  the  Air  Shaft  seam  was  tested 
near  the  Baker  mine ;  the  Black  Fireclay  seam  test  is  on 
the  headwaters  of  Jesse's  Creek ;  my  tests  on  the  Stine  seam 
and  the  Luke  seam  were  made  on  Davis'  Creek  ;  the  only 
workable  seam  discovered  yet,  outcropping  in  the  Monte- 
vallo basin  is  the  Montevallo  seam  ;  this  seam  was  dis- 
covered and  mined  three  or  four  years  before  the  beginning 
of  the  war. 

The  writer  mined  this  seam  on  a  \edse  from  the  Alabama 
Coal  Mining  Company  and  Montevallo  Coal  Company  in 
1859,  shipping  by  what  is  now  known  as  the  East  Tennes- 
see, Virginia  and  Georgia  Railroad  to  Talladega  and  Selma, 
thence  by  Alabama  river  to  Montgomery  and  Mobile.  It 
was  then  considered  the  best  domestic  coal  mined  in  the 
State.  In  fact,  up  to  January,  1860,  it  was  the  only  coal  in 
the  State  that  was  shipped  to  market  by  railroad.  The 
average  thickness  of  this  seam  is  from  two  and  a  half  feet 
to  two  feet  nine  inches.     The  following  is  a  section  of  it : 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :   MONTEVALLO   BASIN. 


93 


[MontevaUo  seam  in  S.  E.  }^  of  S.  W.  }4'  of  secUon  24,  totvnship  32  S., 
range  4  W]. 


C  OpJCf  LOfVJ  Ep  p  JE  %^  S/f/^DSyO/^ES 
''/-firEj-  W/Viy/s/^  sL/?T^    °f  A  ^o/^T" 

Z  f£rcf&  hf^c/tes  (fOOD  co/fL 


6fr£f  Boj-fo/^  sL/7T^ 

6  //Vc//£s    COffL 
■s/}/s/d  s  yo/^E 


The  method  of  mining  it  is,  first  use  a  light  mining  pick 
and  pick  out  the  whole  or  part  of  the  smut  above  the  coal, 
then  blast  the  coal  out  with  powder  or  wedge  it  up  with 
hammer  and  wedges.  When  blasted  without  first  using  the 
pick,  the  coal  is  more  shattered  and  the  amount  of  slack  is 
increased. 

For  relative  positions  of  the  seams  in  this  basin  see  the 
General  Vertical  Section  and  MontevaUo  and  Blocton  Hori- 
zontal Section  from  "M"  to  *'N"  on  accompanying  map. 

It  will  be  seen  by  these  sections  that  all  the  other  work- 
able seams  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  are  in  this  basin  and 
underneath  the  MontevaUo  seam,  so  that  the  portion  of  this 


94  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

basin  that  has  the  Montevallo  seam  under  its  surface,  con- 
tains all  the  workable  seams  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field. 

The  rate  of  dip  of  the  measures  of  this  basin,  varies  from 
9°  to  flat  or  level  measures  in  the  synclinal  part  of  the 
basin  ;  a  large  area  along  the  synclinal  of  this  basin  is  per- 
fectly level. 

For  a  distance  of  about  two  miles  west  and  northwest  of 
Aldrich  depot  on  the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham 
Railroad,  the  Montevallo  seam  has  been  worked  by  various 
companies  in  the  past  thirty-four  years  ;  at  present  the  only 
parties  engaged  in  mining  it  are  the  Montevallo  Coal  and 
Transportation  Company,  of  which  William  F,  Aldrich  is 
president,  and  James  L.  McCouaughy,  secretary  and  treas- 
urer. TKey  have  a  good  mi?  e  opened  on  the  seam  by  slope, 
and  are  well  able  to  supply  the  present  demand  for  Monte- 
vallo coal. 

The  500  feet  of  measures  above  the  Montevallo  seam  are 
a  series  of  conglomerate  ledges  interlarded  with  pebbly 
sandstones  and  with  sandstones.  About  the  middle  of  these 
measures  there  is  a  fifty  feet  layer  of  dense  conglomerate; 
this  forms  several  "falls"  on  the  creeks  and  branches  of  the 
Montevallo  and  Lolley  basins ;  the  four  thin  seams  "Air 
Shaft,"  "Black  Fireclay,"  "Stine,"  and  "Luke"  are  imbedded 
in  the  above  mentioned  500  feet  of  measures. 

The  layers  of  conglomerate  vary  in  thickness  and  posi- 
tion; the  plate  next  above  the  Montevallo  seam  is  at  places 
close  down  on  the  seam,  while  at  other  places  it  is  35  to  40 
feet  above  it. 

Analysis  of  coal  from  the  Montevallo  seam,  from  Montevallo 
Coal  and  Transportation  Company's  slope,  Aldrich,  Ala., 
hy  J.  L.  Buson  : 

Moisture 1.858 

Volatile  matter 36.592 

Fixed  carbon 54.002)   r,„i,„                     a^  ska 

Ash 7.548f  ^°^^ ^^-^^0 

100.000 

Sulphur  in  coal 1.726 

Sulphur  left  in  coke 1.156 

Per  cent,  of  sulphur  in  coke 1.878 


CHAPTER  XL 


THE  OVEKTURNED  MEASURES. 

The  Overturned  Measures  are  situated  to  the  west  of 
Montevallo  and  to  the  northwest  of  Brierfield  depot  and 
rolling  mills. 

The  Overturned  Measures  are  bounded  on  the  north  by 
the  fault  that  separates  them  from  the  Montevallo  basin 
and  Dailey  Creek  basin  ;  on  the  east  by  the  great  boundary 
fault  that  separates  the  Carboniferous  and  Cambrian  meas- 
ures; on  the  south  by  the  same  great  boundary  fault  that 
follows  along  the  south  edge  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field. 

The  following  is  a  rough  outline  of  ihe  boundary  of  the 
Overturned  Measures  :  Commencing  at  the  great  boundary 
fault  about  three  hundred  yards  southeast  of  the  Baker 
mine  entrance  ;  thence  southeastward  along  the  fault  that 
separates  the  Overturned  Measures  from  the  measures  of 
the  Montevallo  and  Dailey  Creek  basins,  about  two  and  a 
half  miles;  thence  along  the  fault  nearly  due  west  about 
three  and  a  half  miles  to  the  middle  of  section  5,  township 
24,  range  11  east ;  thence  southwestward  along  said  fault  to 
the  half  mile  post  on  the  south  side  of  section  15,  township 
24,  range  10  east,  (this  point  is  at  the  south  boundary  of 
the  coal  field;)  thence  eastwardly  and  northeastwardly  along 
the  boundary  fault  to  the  southwest  corner  of  section  5, 
township  24,  range  12  east,  (this  point  is  nearly  opposite 
Thompson's  mill  on  Shoal  Creek;)  thence  along  the  bound- 
ary fault  nearly  due  north,  to  the  point  of  commencement, 
three  hundred  yards  southeast  of  the  Baker  mine  entrance. 

The  Overturned  Measures  are  drained  by  branches  run- 
ning into  Shoal  Creek  ;  by  Little  Mayberry  Creek,  Big  May- 
berry  Creek,  east  prong  of  Four  Mile  Creek,  west  prong  of 
Four  Mile  Creek,  Alligator  Creek,  and  some  small  branches 
running  into  Little  Cahaba  river. 

The  most  prominent  ridge  in  the  Overturned  Measures  is 
the  Conglomerate  ridge,  immediately  south  of  and  parallel 


96  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

with  the  fault  that  separates  the  Overturned  Measures  from 
the  Montevallo  and  the  Dailey  Creek  basins  ;  there  are  other 
ridges  of  lesser  prominence  between  the  outcrops  of  the 
seams  and  followinsj  parallel  with  them,  but  they  are  not  so 
continuous  as  the  Conglomerate  ridge  near  the  north  edge 
of  the  Overturned  Measures. 

The  principal  wagon  roads  in  the  Overturned  Measures 
are  as  follows  :  the  road  leading  from  Montevallo  to  the  old 
shaft ;  the  road  leading  from  the  Irish  Pit  to  Thompson's 
Mill;  the  road  leading  from  the  Irish  Pit  to  Peter's  Mines  ; 
the  road  leading  from  Pea  Ridge  to  Potts'  Tan  Yard  and  to 
Peter's  Mines  ;  the  road  leading  from  the  Rainey  slope  to 
Montevallo ;  the  road  leading  from  Berea  Church  to  the 
Brierfield  Coal  and  Iron  Company's  Smelting  Furnace. 

Of  railroads  in  the  Overturned  Measures  the  Brierfield 
Coal  and  Iron  Company's  Branch  Railroad  runs  through  a 
portion,  connecting  the  company's  coal  mines,  (known  in  the 
neighborhood  as  Peter's  Mines),  with  the  East  Tennessee, 
Virginia  and  Georgia  railroad  ;  the  Brierfield,  Blocton,  and 
Birmingham  railroad  runs  along  the  east  end  of  the  Over- 
turned Measures  ;  the  branch  railroad  of  the  Montevallo 
Coal  and  Transportation  company  also  runs  through  a  por- 
tion of  the  East  end  of  the  Overturned  Measures,  connect- 
ing their  slope  in  the  Montevallo  seam  with  the  Brierfield, 
Blocton,  and  Birmingham  Railroad. 

Twenty-nine  years  ago  a  branch  railroad  extending  from 
what  is  now  called  Birmingham  Junction  Depot,  out  to  the 
"old  office,"  and  from  there  was  connected  by  tram-road 
with  the  "old  shaft"  or  slope  in  one  of  the  Overturned 
seams.  The  tram-road  and  a  portion  of  said  branch  rail- 
road are  now  abandoned. 

The  Overturned  Measures  are  ten  and  a  quarter  (10^) 
miles  in  length  by  an  average  width  of  about  one  mile  ;  the 
surface  area  is  ten  and  a  quarter  square  miles. 

The  amount  of  workable  coal  in  seams  of  two  feet  and 
upwards  in  thickness  in  the  Overturned  Measures,  is 
167,000,000  of  tons  (of  2,000  pounds)  with  a  vertical  depth 
of  4,500  feet. 

The  conglomerate  and  the  seams  outcropping  immedi- 
ately south  of  it,  viz  :  the  Dodd  seam,  Cooper,  Shaft,  Beebee 


OAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :  OVERTURNED  MEASURES.      97 

and  the  Cannel  seam  are  all  overturned  ;  they  all  outcrop 
on  Little  Mayberry  Creek  and  on  the  Big  Mayberry  Creek. 
The  four  hundred  feet  of  conglomerate  and  sandstones  next 
the  fault,  forming  the  north  boundary  of  the  Overturned 
Measures,  is  a  part  of  the  top  or  cap  rock  of  our  Alabama 
Coal  Measures  ;  this  is  the  lower  part  of  the  great  Monte- 
vallo  conglomerate.  In  examining  all  the  above  mentioned 
seams,  the  bottom  slate  was  found  to  be  on  top  in  every 
case.  a. 

The  angle  or  rate  of  dip  of  these  seams,  varies  from  fifty- 
six  degrees  at  the  Cannel  seam,  to  sixty  degrees  at  the 
Cooper  seam.  I  have  examined  these  measures  closely 
along  their  outcrops  for  over  seven  miles,  and  find  them 
overturned  the  whole  of  that  distance.  The  best  point  for 
examination  of  this  portion  of  the  Overturned  Measures,  is 
on  Little  Mayberry  Creek  about  five  hundred  yards  west  of 
the  old  shaft  or  slope.  The  old  shaft  or  slope  was  worked 
by  the  Montevallo  Coal  Mining  company  twenty-nine  years 
ago,  under  my  superintendence  ;  I  had  then  an  excellent 
opportunity  to  obtain  a  thorough  knowledge  of  that  part  of 
the  Overturned  Measures. 

The  Little  Mayberry  Creek  at  this  point  cuts  in  a  direct 
course  through  the  steep  dipping  measures  that  contain  the 
above  mentioned  seams.  The  relative  position  of  these 
seams  is  as  follows  :  Commencing  at  the  "  fault"  on  Little 
Mayberry  Creek,  where  you  can  put  one  foot  on  the  Over- 
turned Measures,  di^»ping  at  a  rate  of  sixty  degrees,  and 
the  other  foot  on  the  flat  measures  of  the  Montevallo  Basin 
dipping  only  two  or  three  degrees  ;  thence  southward  down 
the  creek,  passiog  various  ledges  of  conglomerate  inter- 
larded with  sandstones  on  the  way,  a  distance  along  the 
surface  of  three  hundred  and  ninety  feet  (390) ;  you  have 
now  passed  over  three  hundred  and  thirty-eight  (338)  feet 
in  thickness  of  measures.  This  brings  you  to  the  Dodd 
seam,  and  you  have  just  passed  over  three  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  feet  of  the  lower  part  of  the  Montevallo  con- 
glomerate. The  Dodd  vein  is  the  Montevallo  seam.  Con- 
tinuing down  the  Little  Mayberry  Creek  seventy-three  feet 

a  See  Chapter  I,  and  Introductory  Chapter  for  further  mention  of  the 
reversal  of  the  strata. 
7 


98 


GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 


farther,  passing  over  sixty-three  feet  in  thickness  of  meas- 
ures, you  arrive  at  jthe  Cooper  seam,  which  is  the  under 
seam  of  the  Montevallo.  (This  underseam  is  exposed  in  the 
Dailey  Creek  Basin  at  a  point  three  miles  northwest  of 
where  it  intersects  Little  Mayberry).  Continuing  on  down 
the  creek  a  distance  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  the 
rate  of  dip  loeing  sixty  degrees  all  the  way  from  the  "fault," 
you  pass  over  since  leaving  the  Cooper,  two  hundred  and 
eighty  (280)  feet  in  thickness  of  measures,  and  have  arrived 
at  the  Helena  seam,  of  which  the  following  is  a  section. 
[Helena  Seam  in  section  1,  township  i'4  N.,  range  11  E.     Rate  of  dip  65°] 

9//^Cr/ES    COPL 

t^   '//C//      SLflJE 

S>  /,Vc//£S    COflL 
a  ip/cHns     SL/fT£ 

Continuing  on  down  the  creek  one  hundred  and  forty-two 
(142)  feet  farther,  passing  over  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  (124)  feet  in  thickness  of  measures,  you  arrive  at  a 
ledge  of  conglomerate,  (the  previous  four  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  (467)  feet  in  thickness  being  nearly  all  sandstone) ; 
thence  down  the  creek  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  (225)  feet,  passing  over  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  (197)  feet  in  thickness  of  measures,  you  arrive  at  the 
Shaft  seam,  of  which  the  following  is  a  section. 

[Shaft  Seam  in  section  1,  tovmship  S4  N.,  range  11  E.     Rate  of  dip  65°] 


y'CL  LOW     3/7/^  OS  7'<5'//£- 

5  r^^T   ^  //^C/^£5  GOOD 
CO/7L 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :  OVEKTURNED  MEASURES.      99 

Continuing  on  down  the  creek  seventy-three  feet  farther, 
passing  over  sixty-three  feet  in  thickness  of  measures,  you 
arrive  at  the  "Three  Feet  Seam  ;"  continuing  on  down  the 
creek,  a  distance  of  three  hundred  and  thirty-six  (336) 
feet,  you  pass  over  two  hundred  and  eighty-eight  (288)  feet 
in  thickness  of  measures,  and  arrive  at  the  Beebee  seam ; 
thence  down  the  said  Little  Mayberry  Creek,  square  across 
the  measures  a  distance  of  five  hundred  and  twenty-nine 
(529)  feet,  passing  over  four  hundred  thirty-eight  feet  in 
thickness  of  measures,  you  arrive  at  the  Cannel  seam.  The 
rate  of  dip  of  the  rocks  you  have  passed  over  are  as  follows  : 
at  the  conglomerate  between  the  "fault"  and  the  Dodd  seam 
the  rate  of  dip  is  sixty-one  degrees ;  at  the  Helena,  sixty- 
one  degrees  ;  at  the  Shaft  seam,  sixty  degrees  ;  at  the  Bee- 
bee  seam,  fifty-nine  degrees  ;  and  at  the  Cannel  seam,  fifty- 
six  degrees. 

The  average  thickness  of  the  above  mentioned  seams,  as 
evidenced  by  the  tests  made,  are  as  follows  : 

Dodd,  4  to  6  feet. 

Cooper,  2^  feet. 

Shaft  seam,  4  feet. 

Three  Feet,  2%  to  3  feet. 

Beebee,  3  feet. 

Cannell,  3  feet,  part  of  it  bony. 

For  relative  position  of  the  seams  of  the  Overturned 
Measures,  see  the  Little  Mayberry  Creek  Vertical  Section  on 
the  accompanying  map.  The  seams  near  the  south  bound- 
ary of  the  Overturned  Measures  have  been  worked  for  sev- 
eral years  by  the  Brierfield  Coal  and  Iron  Company  at  what 
is  known  as  Peter's  mines ;  these  seams  have  a  south  or 
southeast  direction  of  dip,  the  same  as  the  Dodd,  Shaft, 
Beebee,  and  Cannel  seams,  on  Little  Mayberry  Creek. 

The  company  sunk  two  slopes  on  the  Lemley  or  B.  seam, 
and  from  the  bottom  of  this  slope  they  tunnelled  to  the  C. 
or  "Cubical  vein,"  and  to  the  D.  or  "Figh  seam ;"  they  also 
tunnelled  southwards  to  the  A.  seam,  and  hoisting  the  coal 
from  all  of  them  at  the  B.  slope  in  the  Lemley  seam.  My 
examination  of  these  seams  was  made  in  1859,  when  I  gave 
to  the  B.  seam  the  name  of  "Lemley,"  part  of  it  being  then 


100  GEOLOGICAL  8UKVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

owned  by  an  old  planter  named  Mennis  Lemley,  living  on 
the  plantation  just  south  of  it ;  I  gave  the  C.  seam  the  name 
of  "Cubical  seam"  on  account  of  its  having  a  cubical  frac- 
ture; and  named  the  D.  seam  "Figh  seam,"  in  remembrance 
of  my  friend  George  M.  Figh,  who  died  in  Dallas,  Texas. 

In  passing  through  by  Peter's  mines  slope  in  April,  1890, 
I  noticed  that  the  B.  slope  was  stopped. 

I  do  not  remember  whether  my  examination  of  these 
seams  in  1859  decided  the  question  as  to  whether  they  were 
overturned;  that  is,  the  bottom  slate  on  top  like  the  Dodd, 
Cooper,  Shaft,  Beebee,  and  Cannel  seams,  or  nota 

There  is  a  thin  seam  between  the  B.  and  C.  seams  of 
about  two  to  two  and  a  half  feet  in  thickness,  that  has 
never  been  worked.  At  the  boundary  fault,  south  of  Peter's 
mines,  there  is  an  outcrop  on  Shoal  Creek  in  section  12, 
township  24,  range  11  east,  that  bends  over  and  forms  a 
complete  arch,  plainly  to  be  seen  exposed  on  the  bank  of 
the  creek  thirty-one  years  ago  ;  it  may  be  covered  up  now 
by  the  falling  in  of  the  creek  bank.  This  is  one  of  the  seams 
of  the  boundary  fault  measures.  If  the  Figh,  Cubical, 
Lemley,  and  A.  seams  are  not  overturned  with  the  bottom 
slate  on  top  like  the  Dodd,  Cooper,  Shaft,  Beebee,  and  Can- 
nell  seams  on  Little  Mayberry  Creek,  then  there  must  be  a 
fault  between  the  two  series  of  seams.  I  have  not  seen  any 
surface  evidence  of  any  fault  between  them,  more  than  thu 
"hitch"  in  the  measures  about  the  middle  of  section  12, 
forming  a  slight  zig-zag  in  their  outcrops, 

The  first  mining  done  in  the  "Overtuy^,ed  Measures"  was 
by  the  Alabama  Coal  Mining  Company  in  or  about  the  year 
1857,  when  they  opened  a  series  of  "drifts"  on  Little  May- 
berry  Creek,  in  the  Cooper  seam,  the  Shaft  seam,  and  Bee- 
bee seam  ;  then  in  the  year  1859,  the  company  sunk  a  slope 
on  the  Shaft  seam  to  a  depth  of  about  160  feet  along  the 
slope,  the  seam  having  a  rate  of  dip  of  60^  to  61°.  The 
company  obtained  a  hoisting  engine  and  boilers  from 
Wilkesbarre,  Pennsylvania,  the  cylinder  of  which  is  now  in 
the  scrap  pile  at  the  Shelby  Boiling  Mill,  Helena.     About 

alt  seems  most  probable  that  these  seams  also  are  overturned,  for  at 
Thompson's  Mill,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  the  L  mley  seam,  occurs 
the  instance  of  a  coal  seam  with  Cambrian  rocks  immediately  above  it, 
shown  in  the  illustration  given  in  the  introductory  chapter.    E.  A.  S. 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :  OVERTUKNED  MEASURES.     lol 

this  time  the  company  acquired  some  new  stockholders  and 
changed  the  name  of  the  firm  from  Alabama  Coal  Mining 
Company  to  Montevallo  Coal  Mining  Company,  but  I  do 
not  remember  the  exact  date  of  the  change. 

The  company  found  it  necessary  to  bring  men  from  Penn- 
sylvania to  fit  up  the  engine  and  hoisting  machinery;  one  of 
them,  John  Hartley,  an  Englishman,  was  brought  to  build 
the  engine  bed  and  boiler  masonry.6 

Some  machinists  also  came  at  the  same  time  Hartley  did. 

The  company  had  gotten  the  slope  sunk  by  means  of 
horse  power  to  the  depth  of  160  or  165  feet,  and  had  driven 
the  gangways  out  one  or  two  hundred  feet  previous  to  my 
taking  charge  as  superintendent  of  the  company's  works, 
obligating  myself  to  keep  the  underground  surveys  ad- 
vanced up  to  the  full  progress  of  the  work  at  the  end  of 
each  month,  and  furnish  the  company  with  a  geological 
map  showing  the  seams  on  their  property,  which  was  done 
under  some  difl&cultiee.c 

The  aforesaid  hoisting  engine,  boilers,  and  machinery 
from  Wilkesbarre,  Pennsylvania,  was  the  first  steam  power 
machinery  for  hoisting  coal  ever  used  in  Alabama. 

The  stockholders  of  the  company  who  first  commenced 
to  use  the  aforesaid  hoisting  machinery,  were  Col.  John  S. 
Storrs,  of  Montevallo,  president  of  the  company  ;  Judge 
Cooper,  of  Lowndes  county  ;  Dr.  Miller,  of  Wilcox  county  ; 
Alexander  White,  of  Selma  and  Talladega ;  Gen.  C.  Robin- 
son, of  Lowndes  or  Wilcox  counties,  and  John  R.  Keenan, 
of  Selma,  Ala.,  etc.  These  were  the  principal  stockholders 
when  the  machinery  was  obtained.  A  little  later  on  ex-Gov. 
T.  H.  Watts,  George  M.  Figh,  Benjamin  B.  Davis,  and  Dr. 
L  T.  Tichenor,  all  of  Montgomery,  became  stockholders  in 
the  Montevallo  Coal  Mining  Company,  so  it  will  be  seen 

6Harlley,  soon  after  his  arrival,  told  me  he  had  been  advised  to  bring 
a  bowie  knife  and  carry  it  with  him  all  the  time  he  was  here;  after  en- 
joying a  good  laugh  at  his  expense  for  his  causeless  fears,  I  advised 
him  to  keep  away  from  bar  rooms  and  grog  shops,  and  bury  that  knife 
until  he  started  back  to  Pennsylvania. 

cMy  first  map  presented  to  the  board  of  directors  showing  the  out- 
crop of  the  Montevallo  seam,  near  where  the  mining  is  now  going  on, 
as  shown  on  the  accompanying  map,  was  made  on  strong  brown  paper, 
called  cotton  paper,  as  it  was  mostly  used  to  wrap  up  cotton  samples  in. 


102  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

that  the  first  efforts  at  the  scientific  mining  of  coal  with 
steam  machinery  in  Alabama  were  made  by  men  mostly 
from  the  "Black  belt"  portion  of  the  State. 

Analysis  of  Coal  from  "^."  Seam    of  the  Brierfleld^  Bihh 
County^  Ala.,  hy  J.  L.  Beeson. 

Moisture 2.265 

Volatile  matter 57.130 

Fixed  carbon 37.407)   ^  ,                          .^  ^^e 

Ash 3.1981^^^^ ^O-^O^ 

100.000 

Sulphur  in  coal 1.158 

Sulphur  left  in  coke.. .487 

Per  cent,  of  sulphur  in  coke 1.198 


CHAPTER  Xll. 


THE  DAILEY   CKEEK  BASIN. 

The  Dailey  Creek  basin  is  situated  to  the  east  and  north- 
east of  Blocton,  to  the  west  and  northwest  of  Montevallo* 
and  to  the  southwest  of  Helena,  Gurnee  being  in  the  north 
end  of  this  basin.  It  is  bounded  on  the  northwest  by  the 
"Interior  fault"  and  the  Blocton  basin,  also  by  a  portion  of 
the  Gould  basin  ;  on  the  north  and  northeast  by  Dry  Creek 
basin  and  Lolley  basin,  on  the  east  side  by  the  Montevallo 
basin,  and  on  the  south  side  by  the  "Overturned  Measures" 
and  the  "South  boundary  fault." 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  boundary  of  the 
Dailey  Creek  basin :  Commencing  at  the  gap  in  the  Con- 
glomerate ridge  where  the  Little  Mayberry  Creek  cuts 
through  it,  at  the  fault  where  the  flat  measures  and  the 
"Overturned"  measures  come  close  together,  thence  north- 
westwardly along  the  anticlinal  to  the  northwest  corner  of 
section  15,  township  22,  range  4  west,  thence  due  north 
along  the  section  lines  on  the  west  side  of  sections  10  and 
3,  to  the  southwest  corner  of  section  34,  township  21,  range 
4  west;  thence  northeast  to  the  northeast  corner  of  said 
section  34 ;  thence  northwestward  down  Jesse's  Creek  to 
the  southwest  corner  of  section  15,  township  21,  range  4 
west;  thence  northwest  to  the  southeast  edge  of  the  Interior 
fault  vertical  rocks  near  the  northwest  corner  of  section  16, 
township  21,  range  4  west  ;  thence  southwestward  along  the 
southeast  edge  of  the  Interior  fault  leaving  Boothtown  to 
your  left ;  thence  close  by  Cadle  Station,  crossing  the  rail- 
road at  this  point,  close  by  the  Gardner  old  mine  ;  continu- 
ing close  along  the  edge  of  the  Interior  fault  to  the  edge  of 
the  coal  field  at  a  point  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  west  of 
the  southeast  corner  of  section  17,  township  24,  range  10 
east ;  thence  eastward  along  the  boundary  fault ;  after  ad- 
vancing two  hundred  yards  you  will  pass  close  by  the  left 


104  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

side  of  the  Joseph  Lightsey  house  ;  continuing  along  the 
boundary  fault,  crossing  Cahaba  river  about  two  hundred 
yards  above  the  "boat  landing"  to  the  half  mile  post  on  the 
south  side  of  section  15,  township  24,  range  10  east ;  thence 
northeastwards  to  the  middle  of  section  5,  township  24, 
range  11  east ;  thence  eastwardly  along  the  line  of  fault 
forming  the  north  bourdary  of  the  "Overturned  measures" 
to  the  Little  May  berry  Creek,  at  a  point  about  700  yards  to 
the  northwest  of  the  old  Shaft  seam  slope,  this  being  where 
the  rocks  of  the  Montevallo  basin  and  the  Overturned  meas- 
ures come  together,  the  point  of  commencement. 

The  Dai!ey  Creek  basin  is  drained  by  the  Cahaba  river 
and  its  tributaries :  Jesse's  Creek,  Kocky  Branch,  Lick 
Creek,  Savage  Creek,  Lovelady  Branch,  Glade  Branch,  Hud- 
gin's  Creek,  Swep  Branch,  Thrasher's  Field  Branch,  Stone 
Coal  Branch,  Dailey  Creek,  Short  Creek,  Big  Lick  Creek, 
Beech  Camp  Branch,  Pine  Island  Branch,  Big  Ugly  Creek, 
Little  Ugly  Creek,  Four  Mile  Creek,  and  Alligator  Creek, 
the  last  two  emptying  into  Little  Cahaba  River,  all  the 
others  drain  into  the  Big  Cahaba  river. 

The  most  prominent  ridge  in  this  basin  is  Pea  ridge,  and 
its  continuation  southwest,  forming  the  "divide"  between 
the  waters  of  Little  Cahaba  river  and  the  Cahaba  river. 
This  "divide"  forms  a  broad,  high  ridge  for  a  length  of 
about  nine  miles  in  this  basin;  its  full  length  is  much  more, 
as  it  continues  northeast  nearly  to  Lacey  Station,  at  the 
head  of  Piney  Woods  Creek.  Its  full  extent  is  from  near 
Lacey  Station  to  the  forks  of  the  Big  Cahaba  and  Little 
Cahaba  rivers.  On  the  northwest  side  of  this  ridge  the 
waters  drain  into  Big  Cahaba  river,  and  on  the  southeast 
side  the  waters  all  drain  into  the  Little  Cahaba  river.  This 
ridge  or  "divide"  has  an  altitude  in  places  of  400  feet  above 
the  river. 

The  next  most  prominent  ridge  is  formed  of  the  roof  rock 
of  the  Gholson  seam.  The  roofs  of  the  Coke  seam  and  the 
Thompson  seam  both  form  high  ridges  in  portions  of  this 
basin. 

Of  the  wagon  roads  of  this  basin  the  principal  one  is  the 
Montevallo  and  Tuscaloosa,  or  Booth's  Ferry  road ;  this  is 
a  county  road,  on  which  vehicles  can  be  used.     Another 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :    DAILEY  CREEK   BASIN.  105 

wagon  road  leads  from  the  Aldricli  mines  near  Montevallo 
to  Blocton,  going  by  Berea  church  and  crossing  the  river  at 
Lily  Shoals.  Another  wagon  road  leads  from  Berea  church 
to  Potts'  Tan  yard.  Another  wagoD  road  leads  from  Peter's 
mines  to  the  James  Rich  ford  on  Cahaba  river. 

Two  railroads  enter  this  basin  at  its  north  end,  the  two 
uniting  near  Gurnee  or  between  Gurnee  Station  and  Piney 
Woods  Station ;  one  of  the  railroads  is  the  Birmingham 
Mineral  Railroad,  extending  from  the  Louisville  and  Nash- 
ville Company's  main  line  at  Helena,  to  its  junction  with 
the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad,  near 
Gurnee.  The  other  road  is  the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and 
Birmingham  Railroad  which  extends  from  Birmingham 
Junction  Station  near  Montevallo,  to  Gurnee  and  Blocton. 
These  two  railroads  have  been  recently  constructed  and  are 
both  now  completed  and  io  running  order. 

The  Birmingham  Mineral  Railroad  Company  havealease 
from  the  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad 
Company,  enabling  them  to  run  their  trains  clear  through 
from  Helena  to  Blocton. 

The  Brierfield,  Blocton  and  Birmingham  Railroad  Com- 
pany are  now  building  a  railroad  from  Gurnee  to  Bessemer 
and  Birmingham;  the  whole  line  being  now  constructed 
under  contract  let  to  Aldrich,  Worthington  &  Co.,  railroad 
contractors. 

Two  years  ago,  and  prior  to  the  construction  of  these 
railroads,  the  Dailey  Creek  basin  did  not  have  a  population 
of  more  than  an  average  of  one  family  to  the  square  mile, 
but  since  that,  the  Excelsior  Coal  Company  have  opened 
their  two  new  slopes,  and  miners  with  their  families  have 
gone  to  live  near  the  mines.  The  population  has  thus  in- 
cceased  to  ten  times  what  it  was  two  years  ago. 

The  Dailey  Creek  Basin  has  a  length  of  thirteen  miles  by 
an  average  width  of  three  and  two-tenths  miles,  and  con- 
tains a  surface  area  of  forty-one  and  a  half  square  miles  ; 
it  contains  of  good  workable  coal  in  seams  of  over  two  feet 
in  thickness,  and  within  forty-five  hundred  feet  in  vertical 
depth  seven  hundred  and  seventy-one  millions  of  tons, 
(771,000,000— of  2000  lbs.)  In  computing  this  estimate  of 
amount  of  coal  in  the  basin  I  have  made  no  allowance  for 
loss  in  pillars,  or  waste  in  mining. 


106  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

The  lowest  workable  seam  outcropping  in  this  basin  is 
the  seam  known  as  the  "Big  Vein."  This  seam  is  the 
Wadsworth  of  the  South  and  North  Alabama  railroad. 
Near  Boothtown  it  runs  into  the  .vertical  measures  of  the 
"Interior  Fault."  Its  thickness  in  the  south  end  of  the 
basin  is  eight  feet  in  the  aggregate  ;  a  part  of  this,  though, 
is  impure  and  shaly,  but  probably  four  feet  of  good  coal  can 
be  gotten  out  of  it. 

The  most  workable  seam  is  the  "Clean  Coal  Seam,"  which 
is  only  two  and  a  half  feet  in  thickness.  The  next  work- 
able seam  above  this  is  the  "Beech  Tree  seam,"  of  three 
feet  in  thickness  of  good  coal ;  the  "Half  Yard  coal"  comes 
in  between  the  two  last  mentioned  seams.  A  short  distance 
above  the  Beech  Tree  seam  is  a  thin  seam  of  six  inches  ; 
this,  with  the  "Clean  Coal,"  "Half  Yard"  and  "Beech  Tree," 
forming  a  group  of  four  seams  between  the  Big  Vein  and 
Coke  seam.  Between  this  group  and  the  Coke  seam,  is  a 
thin  seam  that  becomes  sixteen  inches  thick  in  places. 
Then  above  this  is  the  Coke  seam.  This  seam  near  Dailey 
Creek,  ranges  from  three  to  three  and  a  half  feet  in  thick- 
ness, and  is  a  good  coal,  making  an  excellent  coke.  There 
are  two  thin  seams  a  few  inches  thick  above  the  Coke  seam, 
but  the  next  workable  seam  is  the  Clark  seam,  which,  when 
discovered  thirty  years  ago,  was  named  the  "Spring  vein." 
The  Clark  varies  in  size  from  two  and  a  half  to  four  feet  in 
thickness,  and  is  of  very  good  quality.  Above  the  Clark,  a 
varying  distance  of  from  ten  to  a  hundred  feet  is  the  Ghol- 
son  seam  ;  this  is  a  remarkably  good  seam  of  solid  coal, 
varying  from  four  tO  five  feet  in  thickness  with  a  good  sand- 
stone roof.  From  my  remembrance  of  measurements  made 
in  the  old  Gholson  mine  twenty-five  years  ago,  when  the 
mine  was  still  open,  the  average  thickness  of  the  seam 
through  the  mine  was  five  feet.  When  the  Gurnee  workings 
have  advanced  to  flat  part  of  the  basin,  the  Excelsior 
company  will  have  an  excellent  seam,  with  a  good  roof  and 
an  immense  area  of  flat  or  level  measures  to  work  in.  The 
following  are  measured  sections  of  the  Clark  and  Gholson 
seams ; 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :  DAILEY  CREEK  BASIN.  107 

[Clark  Seam  in  section   16,  township  21  S.,  range  4   W.     Rate  of  dip  16°] 

I  INCH    C  O  fit 

5/^£Ff  2  irJcf^ES   sLf\  T^ 


2FEEJ  6ltJch/ES  qooD  co/^L 

plF.E  CLfly  Of^  BOTTOM  sL/iTE 

[Glwlson  Seam  in  section  21,  township  21  S.  range  4  W.    Rate  of  dip  1G°\ 


/^^£:r  (fOOD  co/^l 


[Gholson  Seam  in  section  12,  township  22  S.,  range  5  W.    Direction  of 
Strike,  N.  34°  E.     Direction  of  dip,  56°  E.     Rate  of  dip  9°] 


SfEEJ'qOOD   CO/^L 


The  next  seam  of  workable  size  is  the  Middle  Vein,  of 
two  and  a  half  feet  in  thickness.  This  is  the  "Little  Pitts- 
burg Seam"  of  the  South  and  North  Alabama  railroad. 
Above  the  "Middle  Vein"  are  two  thin  seams,  representing 
the  "Quarry  seam"  and  the  "Smithshop  seam"  of  the  South 
and  North  Alabama  railroad  company.    Above  these  is  the 


108  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

Thompson  or  Conglomerate  seam,  varying  in  size  in  this 
basin,  from  three  to  six  feet.  A  short  distance  above  this 
seam  is  a  ledge  of  conglomerate  that  is  fifty  feet  thick  in 
places,  bat  in  other  places,  only  a  few  feet.  The  next  seam 
above  this  is  the  Helena  ;  this  seam  in  this  basin  varies  in 
size  from  one  and  a  half  to  four  feet,  and  in  some  places  is 
divided  up  into  two  or  three  benches,  with  slates  interven- 
ing. The  next  seam  above  this  is  the  Yeshic  seam  ;  a  seam 
that  is  generally  four  to  five  feet  in  thickness  ;  its  condition 
is  mostly  impure  in  this  basin.  The  next  workable  jeam 
above  this  is  the  Montevallo  seam  of  two  and  a  half  to  four 
feet  in  thickness.  For  sections  of  this  seam,  see  the  chap- 
ters on  the  L')lley  Basin  and  Montevallo  Basin.  This  seam 
has  about  the  best  reputation  for  a  good  domestic  coal,  of 
any  in  the  State.  The  outcrop  of  it  can  be  seen  beneath  a 
ledge  of  conglomerate  on  a  branch,  a  few  hundred  yards 
south  of  Antioch  Church  ;  the  branch  empties  into  Savage 
creek.  The  four  thin  seams  above  the  Montevallo  seam  are 
the  "Air  Shaft  seam,"  "Black  Fireclay  seam,"  "Stine  seam," 
and  the  "Luke  seam  ;"  none  of  them  are  workable,  and  they 
vary  so  m  thickness  and  amount  of  impurities,  that  they 
are  not  worth  the  reader's  attention,  though  a  section  of 
the  "Black  Fireclay  seam"  can  be  found  in  the  chapter  de- 
scribing the  Lolley  Basin. 

The  measures  of  the  north  end  of  the  Dailey  Creek  Basin, 
dip  towards,  and  are  connected  with  the  Lolley  and  the 
Montevallo  Basins.  The  largest  and  most  important  of  the 
seams  of  the  Lolley  and  Montevallo  Basins  can  be  worked 
by  slopes  driven  down  from  their  outcrops  in  the  Dailey 
Creek  Basin.  The  anticlinal  between  the  Lolley  and  Mon- 
tevallo Basins  appears  to  be  pointing  in  the  direction  of 
Jesse's  Creek  ;  the  lower  rate  of  dip  than  usual  in  the  lower 
part  of  Jesse's  Creek  is  probably  due  to  the  said  anticlinal. 

For  relative  position  of  the  seams  of  this  basin,  see  the 
Dailey  Creek  Vertical  Section,  and  the  Blocton  and  Monte- 
vallo Horizontal  Section  from  "M."  to  "N."  on  the  accompany- 
ing map. 

The  rate  of  dip  of  the  measures  in  this  basin,  varies  from 
forty-five  degrees  at  the  Big  Vein,  to  ten  or  fifteen  at  the 
Gholson  seam,  down  to  one  or  two  degrees  or  flat,  at  the 


CAHABA  COAL  FIELD  :   DAILEY   CREEK  BASllt.  109 

syncliDal  east  of  Berea  Church  ;  most  of  the  southeast  side 
of  the  basin  is  flat  or  nearly  flat. 

The  first  mining  done  in  this  basin  was  during  the  war 
between  the  States,  by  refugees  from  Mississippi  and  else- 
where. They  were  Brooks  and  Gainer,  mining  close  to 
where  Gurnee  now  is.  Rogers ;  Carter ;  Gholson  &  Co. ; 
Herndon,  and  Thompson.  They  hauled  their  coal  in  wagons 
to  the  nearest  point  on  the  Selma,  Rome  and  Dalton  Rail- 
road. The  coal  was  used  by  the  Confederate  Government 
at  the  arsenal  at  Selma.  The  seams  worked  by  them  were 
the  Clark  seam,  the  Gholson  seam  and  the  Thompson  seam. 
These  three  seams  were  all  they  mined  in  this  basin  ;  their 
method  of  mining  was  by  "drift,"  and  horse  power  slopes  ; 
none  of  them  used  steam  power  in  any  shape.  The  dis- 
tance from  their  mines  to  the  railroad  was  by  the  wagon 
road  about  twelve  miles,  and  with  a  team  of  four  mules  and 
wagon,  they  hauled  a  ton  per  day  to  the  railroad  per  each 
team  ;  this  was  counted  a  day's  hauling. 

None  of  them  advanced  their  mine  workings  very  far 
from  the  outcrop,  their  principal  work  being  hauling  the 
coal  and  keeping  their  long  wagon  roads  in  hauling  con- 
dition. 

All  of  these  mines  stopped  when  the  war  ended  ;  the 
refugees  then,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  went  back  to 
their  former  homes.  Since  that  time  the  mines  have  been 
abandoned  and  grown  up  with  briars,  till  about  January, 
1889.  From  this  date  railroads  have  been  built,  connecting 
this  region  with  Montevallo  and  Selma,  Blocton,  Bessemer 
and  Birmingham,  and  with  Helena,  Montgomery  and  the 
Gulf,  and,  by  means  of  the  steam  colliers  now  running  from 
Pensacola,  with  Havana  and  all  the  coal  markets  in  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  contrast  between  the  appliances  and  methods  of  min- 
ing used  in  the  basin  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  those  used 
at  present,   is  very  great. 

Since  January,  1889,  the  Excelsior  Coal  Company  have 
sunk  two  large  slopes  on  the  Gholson  seam ;  one  of  them, 
No.  1,  or  Gurnee  Slope,  is  now  down  eight  hundred  feet ; 
these  slopes,  if  continued  on  in  the  direction  they  are  now 
being  driven,  will  penetrate  an  immense  region  of  flat,  or 


110  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

nearly  level  seams,  suflficient  to  furnish  continuous  work  for 
several  generations  of  miners. 

Analysis  of  coal  from  the  Gholson  Seam,  Slope  No,  1,  Gurnee, 
Alabama,  by  J.  L.  Beeson. 

Moisture 1.589 

Volatile  matter 35  760 

Fixed  Carbon 58.871/   r,  ,        ^o  cci 

Asli 3.780)   Coke. .62651. 

100.000 

Sulphur  in  coal  1.547 

Sulphur  left  in  coke 781 

Percentage  of  sulphur  in  coke  1.249 


CHAPTER  XIIL 


THE   BLOCTON  BASIN. 

The  Blocton  basin  is  situated  to  the  south  and  southwest 
of  Bessemer,  to  the  southeast  of  Woodstock  and  Vance's, 
to  the  north  of  Centreville,  to  the  west  of  Aldrich  and 
Montevallo,  and  to  the  southwest  of  Gurnee,  Blocton  oc- 
cupying the  middle  portion  of  the  basin. 

This  basin  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Gould  basin, 
on  the  northwest  by  the  Sub-Carboniferous  measures,  at  the 
visible  portion  of  the  southwest  end  it  is  bounded  by  a 
large  deposit  of  "Drift  measures"  overlying  and  completely 
hiding  the  Carboniferous  from  sight,  on  the  south  it  is 
bounded  by  the  great  boundary  fault,  and  on  the  southeast 
side  it  is  bounded  by  the  Interior  fault  vertical  coal  meas- 
ures, beyond  which  is  the  Dailey  Creek  basin. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  boundary  of  the 
Blocton  basin :  Commencing  at  the  northwest  edge  of-  the 
Interior  fault  opposite  Booth's  Ferry  in  the  south  half  of 
section  19,  township  21,  range  4  west;  thence  northwest 
along  the  Booth's  Ferry  and  Tannehill  wagon  road,  to  the 
sharp  bend  in  Sand  Mountain  in  the  south  half  of  section 
3,  township  21,  range  5  west ;  thence  northwest  along  the 
base  of  the  Millstone  Grit  nearly  one  mile,  to  where  Sand 
Mountain  makes  another  sharp  turn  ;  thence  southwestward 
along  the  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit  of  Sand  Mountain; 
the  red  fossiliferous  ore  cropping  out  about  half  a  mile  to 
the  right.  Then  crossing  the  Cahaba  Coal  Mining  Com- 
pany's Hailroad  at  "Thrasher's  Mill,"  on  the  township  line, 
between  townships  21  and  22,  and  continuing  along  the  base 
of  the  Millstone  Grit,  crossing  Hill's  Creek  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  northwest  of  Randolph's  Mill,  and  cross- 
ing Schultz's  Creek  at  Burt's  Mill ;  thence  along  the  base 
of  the  Millstone  Grit  to  the  half  mile  post  on  the  south  side 
of  section  22,  township  24,  range  8  east.     To  the  southwest 


112  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

of  this  the  Carboniferous  is  completely  covered  with  drift. 
Thence  southeast  to  the  half  mile  post  on  the  west  side  of 
section  6,  township  23,  range  9  east;  thence  northeastwards 
along  the  boundary  fault,  crossing  Schultz's  Creek  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  north  of  the  wagon  road  bridge  ;  passing 
Schultz's  Creek  church  about  700  yards  to  the  north  of  it, 
and  continuing  on  along  the  boundary  fault  to  a  point  two 
hundred  yards  west  of  Joseph  Lightsey's  house  in  the 
northeast  quarter  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  20, 
township  24,  range  10  east ;  thence  northeastwards  along 
the  northwest  side  of  the  vertical  measures  of  the  "Interior 
fault,"  crossing  the  railroad  about  half  a  mile  southwest  of 
Cadle  Station,  and  crossing  the  Cahaba  river  near  the  half 
mile  post  at  the  south  side  of  section  2,  township  22,  range 
5  west  ;  continuing  northeastwards  along  the  northwest  edge 
of  the  Interior  fault  vertical  measures  to  opposite  Booth's 
Ferry,  in  the  south  half  of  section  19,  township  21,  range  4 
west,  the  point  of  commencement. 

The  Blocton  basin  is  drained  by  the  Cahaba  river  and  its 
tributaries.  Shades  Creek,  Cane  Creek,  Little  Cane  Creek, 
Bear  Branch,  Big  Ugly  Creek,  Little  Ugly  Creek,  Caffey's 
Creek,  Turkeycock  Branch,  Lick  Branch,  Green  Branch, 
Pratt's  Creek,  Stone  Quarry  Branch,  Hill's  Creek,  Schultz's 
Creek,  and  Haysop  Creek,  the  waters  of  all  these  creeks 
and  branches  finally  reach  Cahaba  river.  It  is  along  the 
valley  of  one  of  these  creeks  (Caffey's  Creek)  that  the 
Cahaba  Coal  Mining  Company  built  their  railroad,  enabling 
them  to  open  up  their  mines  in  this  basin;  this  was  the 
easiest  route  by  which  they  coald  get  railroad  access  to  the 
seams  in  this  basin,  though  the  engineering  difficulties  of 
the  route  brought  the  cost  of  their  nine  miles  of  railroad 
up  to  over  $160,000. 

The  most  prominent  ridges  of  this  basin  are  Sand  Moun- 
tain, formed  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  Millstone  Grit,  ex- 
tending all  along  the  northwest  side  of  the  basin,  though  it 
is  a  little  broken  at  its  southwest  end.  The  next  ridge  in 
promineuce  is  the  ridge  formed  of  the  roof  rock  of  the 
Underwood  or  Thompson  seam. 

This  basin,  like  all  other  parts  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field, 
is  not  well  provided  with  good  wagon  roads.     The  principal 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   BLOCTON   BASIN.  113 

ones  in  the  basin  are  the  Woodstock  and  Blocton  road,  the 
Blocton  and  Pratt's  Ferry  road,  (this  is  what  the  settlers 
designate  as  the  new  cut,)  the  Blocton  and  Centreville  road, 
the  Blocton  and  Gurnee  road,  the  Woodstock  and  Centre- 
ville road,  the  Tuscaloosa  and  Pratt's  Ferry  road,  Booth- 
town  and  Greenpond  road,  Blocton  and  Shades  Creek 
church  or  Helena  road,  and  the  Scottsville  and  River  Bend 
road. 

The  railroads  in  this  basin  are  the  Cahaba  Coal  Mining 
Company's  Railroad,  connecting  their  Blocton  mines  with 
the  Alabama  Great  Southern  Railroad  at  Woodstock,  and 
with  the  Blue  Creek  extension  of  the  Birmingham  Mineral 
Railroad  at  the  Blocton  Junction  depot  near  Woodstock. 

There  is  another  railroad  receutly  completed  that  enters 
the  basin  from  the  east  side,  coming  from  Montevallo  to 
Gurnee,  and  from  Gurnee  to  Bloctou,  constructed  by  the 
Brierfield,  Blocton  aud  Birmingham  Railroad  Company 
over  the  Gurnee  and  Blocton  portion  of  which  the  Birm- 
ingham Mineral  Company  have  a  lease  or  right  to  run  their 
trains  to  Blocton,  from  their  Helena  and  Gurnee  branch. 

This  gives  the  Blocton  basin  connection  with  the  Alabama 
Great  Southern  Railroad,  the  Birmingham  Mineral  system, 
and  Louisville  and  Nashville  Company's  main  line,  and  the 
East  Tennessee,  Virginin  and  Georgia  main  line  by  means 
of  the  Selma,  Rome  and  Dalton  Division,  which  are  three 
of  the  most  important  mineral  railroads  in  the  State. 

The  Blocton  basin  is  eighteen  miles  in  length  by  an  aver- 
age width  of  five  and  a  quarter  miles.  Its  surface  area  is 
ninety-four  and  a  half  square  miles,  and  it  contains,  in 
seams  of  workable  coal  of  two  feet  and  upwards  in  thick- 
ness, and  within  3,800  feet  of  vertical  depth,  567,000,000  of 
tons  (2,000  pounds.)  I  have  made  no  allowance  in  this 
computation  for  loss  in  pillars  or  waste  in  mining. 

The  western  edge  of  the  basin  is  disturbed  by  three  nar- 
row faults  or  fractures  of  the  measures ;  they  do  not  make 
much  showing  on  the  surface,  but  they  cause  the  measures 
in  their  vicinity  to  be  irregular,  and  will  not  be  considered 
worth  working  while  there  is  such  a  vast  area  of  almost 
level  or  flat  measures  in  the  basin  proper,  to  the  east  of 
them,  and  containing  the  same  seams. 
8 


114 


GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 


The  Gould  seam  outcrops  in  these  disturbed  measures, 
but  the  lowest  workable  seam  outcropping  in  the  regular  or 
flat  portion  of  the  basin,  is  the  Wadsworth,  which  shows 
two  feet  nine  inches  at  the  surface  outcrop  and  will  prob- 
ably prove  to  be  three  feet  of  good  coal  at  some  distance 
underground;  the  next  working  seam  above  this  is  the 
Beechtree  seam.  This  seam,  a  few  miles  to  the  east  near 
Dailey  Creek,  is  three  feet  in  thickness  and  of  good  qual- 
ity. The  next  workable  seam  above  this  is  the  Coke  seam, 
this  one  also  near  Dailey  Creek,  is  three  feet  in  thickness 
of  good  coal,  with  a  good  roof  and  has  excellent  coking 
qualities.  The  next  workable  seam  above  this  is  the  Wood- 
stock or  Gholson  seam ;  in  this  basin  it  averages  from  three 
to  three  and  a  half  feet  of  solid  coal  of  good  quality  for 
coke  makiog,  and  locomotive  or  domestic  purposes ;  it  has 
a  good  roof,  and  around  Blocton  there  is  a  large  area  of  it 
nearly  level.  The  next  workable  seam  in  this  basin  above 
the  Woodstock  is  the  Underwood  or  Thompson  seam  ;  this 
seam  contains  a  solid  bench  of  five  and  a  half  feet  of  good 
quality  well  suited  to  coking,  steam,  or  domestic  purposes. 
The  following  is  a  section  of  it: 

[Thompson  seam,  in  section  21,  township  22,  S.,  range  5,  W.]: 
S/l/VOSJ-or\/E 
//  J/\/c/^ES   Co/I  I 
II  i/^'a/ss  bo/Jy  sLflT£ 
/fooj^S  INCITES   Ofl/fH'  col  Off'o  si/iT£ 

/rooj    CO/il 

10  lf^Cl/£S    SMUT 

•5f€€T   QOOD  COflL 


f/f\£  cLflV 
The  Helena  seam   is  the  next  workable  seam  above  the 


CAHABA    COAL  FIELD  :    BLOCTON   BASIN.  115 

Thompson;  it  shows  only  two  feet  in  thickness  at  the  out- 
crop on  the  hill  above  the  No.  2  slope  in  this  basin.  It 
may  be  larger  in  other  parts  of  the  basin,  though  the  evi- 
dence elsewhere  testifies  to  its  gradually  reducing  in  size 
towards  the  southwest  end  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field.  In 
places  through  the  field  it  is  liable  to  be  divided  up  into 
two  or  three  benches,  with  slate  intervening;  in  the  Eureka 
basin  it  is  solid. 

For  relative  position  of  the  seams  in  this  basin,  see  the 
Blodon  Vertical  Section,  the  General  Vertical  Section,  and  the 
Blocfon  and  Montevallo  Horizontal  Section,  on  the  accompany- 
ing map : 

The  following  two  analyses  of  the  coal  of  the  Woodstock 
seam,  were  made  by  Porter  &  Going,  Cincinnati,  Ohio  : 

Sample  Sample 

No.  1.  No.  4. 

Moisture 1 .  45  1 .  40 

Volatile 32 .  21  34 .  05 

Fixed  carbon   61.83  60.30 

Sulphur 1.10  114 

Ash 3  41  3.11 

100.00  100  00 

The  following  two  analyses  of  the  coal  of  the  Underwood 
seam  were  also  made  by  Porter  &  Going,  Cincinnati,  Ohio : 

Sample  Sample 

No.  2.  No.  3. 

Moisture 1.70  150 

Volatile 32  21  30.95 

Fixed  carbon 60.02  61.72 

Sulphur 82  1.13 

Ash 5.25  4.70 

100  00  100.00 

The  following  analysis  of  the  coke  from  th?  Underwood 
coal  was  made  by  Alfred  Gaither,  Chemist,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.: 

Volatile 4.508 

Fixed   carbon 87.607 

Sulphur 745 

Ash , 7 .  140 

100.000 

The  following  analysis  of  the  coke  from  the  Woodstock 


llfi  GEOLOGICAL   SURVEY   OF   ALABAMA. 

and  Underwood  coals   mixed,  was   made  by  chemist  of  the 
Talladega  Iron  and  Steel  Company  : 

Moisture 700 

Volatile     925 

Fixed  Carbon S8  358 

Sulphur 1.217 

Ash 8  600 

100  000 
The  following  analysis  of  the  coke  from  the  Woodstock 
and  Underwood  coals  mixed,  was   made  by  John   Fulton, 
General  Manager  of  the   Cambrian  Iron  Company,  Johns- 
town, Pa.,  from  samples  taken  from  twenty-four  OYens : 

Moisture   08 

Volatile 1.11 

Fixed   carbon 90.48 

Sulphur 83 

Ash 7  50 

100  00 

The  disturbed  measures  next  to  the  northwest  edge  of  the 
Blocton  basin  have  a  varying  rate  of  dip  of  from  six  degrees 
to  sixty  degrees.  The  main  part  of  the  basin  is  nearly  flat, 
the  rate  of  dip  varying  from  one  degree  up  to  fifteen  de- 
grees. The  synclinal  of  this  basin  is  wide  and  flat,  and  ex- 
tends from  the  northeast  end  to  the  southwest  end. 

Around  the  Cahaba  Coal  Mining  Company's  mines  the 
synclinal  becomes  divided  by  an  anticlinal  that  shows  itself 
between  No.  1  and  No.  2  mines,  into  two  synclinals,  extend- 
ing for  several  miles  in  both  directions.  These  synclinals 
are  wide  and  almost  flat,  and  embrace  a  large  territory  of 
nearly  level  measures.  The  inclination  or  fall  of  the  syn- 
clinal line,  of  this  basin,  is  from  the  northeast  end  to  the 
southwest  end.  The  base  of  the  Millstone  Grit,  measured 
from  a  given  datum  line,  has  a  lower  altitude  at  the  south 
end  of  both  the  Cahaba  and  Warrior  Coal  Fields,  and  a 
higher  altitude  at  the  north  end  of  both  Coal  Fields  than  at 
any  other  point ;  consequently  the  large  Monte vallo  Con- 
glomerate, the  cap  rock  of  our  Alabama  Coal  Measures,  is 
visible  at  the  surface  at  the  south  end  of  both  coal  fields, 
which  can  be  seen  at  the  shoals  in  the  Warrior  River  be- 
tween  Tuscaloosa   and   Northport,  and   in  the  Montevallo 


CAHABA   COAL  FIELD  :   BLOCTON   BASIN.  117 

Basin  over  the  "  Aldrich  Slope,"  The  base  of  the  Millstone 
Grit  showing  itself  in  the  tops  of  the  mountains  where  the 
measures  have  a  very  light  dip,  at  the  north  end  of  both 
coal  fields,  more  especially  the  Wearior. 

Prior  to  1884,  there  had  been  no  mining  done  in  this 
basin  ;  in  that  year,  the  Cahaba  Coal  Mining  Company  first 
began  to  sink  their  Slopes  and  construct  their  nine  miles  of 
railroad  from  Woodstock,  on  the  Alabama  Great  Southern, 
to  their  mines  ;  though  they  have  now  in  this  basin  nearly 
twenty  miles  of  railroad  of  main  line,  branches,  and  sidings  ; 
they  have  increased  their  mine  openings  until  they  now 
have  ten  mines  opened  up  in  this  basin,  mostly  slopes,  the 
others  are  vertical  shafts  and  drifts  ,  their  output  has  in- 
creased at  about  the  same  speed  as  the  Pratt  Mines,  did  in 
the  same  space  of  time  after  first  commencing. 

This  company  have  some  450  coke  ovens  of  the  bee-hive 
pattern,  well  constructed,  and  with  the  latest  improvements. 
They  are  intended  to  supply  the  furnaces  at  Anniston  with 
coke.     The  coke  is  of  excellent  quality. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


ON  MINING. 


In  our  methods  of  mining  the  coal  seams  of  Alabama, 
where  the  rate  of  dip  is  less  than  ten  degrees,  we  have 
adopted  for  the  past  thirty  or  forty  j-ears,  the  cars  and  sys- 
tem very  generally  used  along  the  Monongahela  River,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania,  and  for  seams  having  a  rate  of  dip  of 
from  twenty-five  to  sixty  degrees,  we  have  adopted  the  meth- 
ods generally  used  at  the  Anthracite  Mines  in  Pennsylvania. 
For  distinction  we  will  name  the  first  one  the  "Mononga- 
hela Method,"  and  the  other  the  "Anthracite  Method,"  and 
for  the  rates  of  dip  above  mentioned,  they  are  the  best 
methods  known,  but  they  do  not  work  well  in  seams  having 
a  rate  of  dip  between  ten  and  twenty-five  degrees. 

In  seams  having  a  rate  of  dip  from  forty  to  sixty  degrees, 
it  has  been  our  custom  to  drive  the  rooms  square  off  from 
the  gangway,  up  the  "rise"  of  the  seam,  and  have  the  coal 
to  run  down  the  shute  into  the  tram  at  the  bottom  of  it; 
with  this  rate  of  dip  the  shute  does  not  require  planking  at 
the  side  or  bottom  to  make  the  coal  run,  and  by  keeping  the 
shute  full,  except  three  or  four  feet  working  room  at  the 
"breast  of  the  room,"  there  is  very  little  coal  lost  by  pul- 
verizing in  its  descent  down  the  shute,  as  by  that  method 
it  descends  by  slow  settling  in  proportion  as  it  is  allowed 
to  run  into  the  trams  at  the  bottom;  this  method  miners 
designate  as  "working  it  on  the  run." 

In  seams  of  from  thirty  to  forty  degrees  rate  of  dip,  the 
miners  are  compelled  to  plank  the  sides  of  the  shute  to 
some  extent,  in  order  to  enable  the  coal  to  slide  down  with- 
out assistance.  In  seams  of  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  de- 
grees the  coal  will  not  descend  in  the  shute  unless  the  sides 
of  the  shute  are  partly  planked,  and  the  bottom  covered 
with  sheet  iron.  In  working  our  seams,  having  a  rate  of 
dip  of  ten  degrees  or  under,  with  the  Monongahela  ton  car 
we  are  compelled  to  drive  our  rooms  diagonally  to  the  di- 


MINING.  119 

rection  of  the  gangway,  unless  the  rate  of  dip  is  less  than 
four  degrees,  in  that  case  the  rooms  may  be  driven  "square 
up  the  pitch."  For  seams  of  from  sixty  to  twenty-five  de- 
grees and  from  ten  degrees  to  flat  or  level,  the  Anthracite 
and  Monongahela  methods  suit  very  well,  but  for  seams 
having  a  rate  of  dip  of  from  ten  to  twenty-five  degrees,  they 
entail  an  additional  expense  in  getting  the  coal  to  the  gang- 
way ready  for  hoisting;  for  convenience  we  shall  name  this 
rate  of  dip  the  "medium  dip." 

It  has  been  hitherto  our  practice  to  adopt  the  "Mononga- 
hela Method"  with  ton  trams,  where  the  rate  of  dip  is  from 
ten  to  seventeen  degrees,  driving  the  rooms  diagonally  from 
the  gangway,  and  have  the  miners  bring  their  loaded  cars 
down  to  the  gangway,  go  back  empty  handed  and  have  the 
trammer  to  take  the  empty  cars  up  to  the  room  breast  by 
mule  power;  or  else  have  the  miner  to  go  through  the  heavy 
strain  of  pushing  the  empty  car  up  by  hand.  The  mule 
power  method,  though  necessitating  two  journeys  along  the 
room  road,  to  accomplish  the  output  of  one  car  of  coal,  is 
the  most  satisfactory  to  the  miner  and  most  economical  to 
the  mine  proprietor;  in  making  a  fair  count  of  the  cost  of 
each  method,  the  man  power  is  certain  to  cost  the  most. 
In  mining  thin  seams,  small  light  cars  are  often  used,  that 
can  be  pushed  up  the  room  by  man  power  with  less  strain 
to  the  miner  than  when  using  the  one  ton  car.  I  have  often 
used  this  method  myself,  and  in  all  probability  the  Monte- 
vallo  Coal  &  Transportation  Co.,  are  now  using  it,  still  it  is 
glaringly  evident,  that  man  power  applied  to  its  utmost 
strength,  is  the  costliest  method  of  moving  coal  from  the 
"room  breast"  to  daylight. 

In  mining  seams  of  from  seventeen  to  twenty-five  de- 
grees rate  of  dip,  it  has  generally  been  our  practice  to  adopt 
the  "Anthracite  Method,"  and  either  plank  the  bottom  and 
lower  part  of  the  sides  of  the  "shute,"  or  plank  and  sheet 
iron  the  bottom.  In  this  case,  even  with  these  aids,  the 
coal  will  not  run  of  its  own  accord,  consequently  it  requires 
to  be  pushed  down  the  length  of  the  shute  by  the  miner  or 
the  assistant  trammer.  When  the  room  is  worked  up  a  con- 
siderable distance  from  the  gangway,  this  becomes  a  costly 
method  of  moving  the  coal  from  the  "room  breast"  to  day- 


120  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

light.  I  have  given  considerable  attention  in  the  past  thirty 
years,  to  the  difficulties  encountered  in  conveying  the 
"medium  dip"  coal  from  the  "room  breast"  to  daylight; 
twice  in  this  period  I  have  tried  to  solve  the  problem,  by 
devoting  several  months  to  the  examination  of  the  meth- 
ods used  in  the  "medium  dip"  seams  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  Wales.  I  also  made  a  further  effort  on  the  Continent, 
but  my  knowledge  of  German  and  French  was  so  limited, 
as  to  prevent  my  discussing  the  matter  satisfactorily  with 
^he  managers  in  charge  of  the  works.  As  the  result  of 
these  ejfforts  I  have  been  brought  to  suggest  and  recommend 
some  (at  least  to  me),  new  methods,  though  not  an  entire 
"cut  and  dried"  solution  of  this  problem,  ready  to  apply  to 
our  Cahaba  seams. 

The  trams  or  mine  cars  used  in  Europe  are,  in  nearly 
every  case,  smaller  than  ours;  the  reason  for  making  them 
so,  in  most  cases,  is  an  effort  to  reduce  the  enormous  first 
cost  of  their  deep  shafts,  by  having  a  small  shaft  area,  thus 
leaving  but  a  small  space  for  their  mine  cars  or  cages  and 
pumpway;  their  small  mine  cars  also  suit  the  large  number 
of  boys  they  have  employed  in  their  mines.  It  would  be 
bad  policy  for  us  to  adopt  their  small  cars  in  the  Cahaba 
Field,  as  we  have  no  very  deep  pits  to  sink,  and  our  per- 
centage of  boys  employed  is  very  much  smaller  than  theirs, 
also  our  miners  are  accustomed  to  handling  one  ton  cars,  or 
cars  having  a  capacity  approaching  a  ton.  I  have  also  ex- 
amined the  methods  of  mining  the  "medium  dip"  in  other 
places  where  opportunity  offered,  finally  arriving  at  the 
conclusion  that  our  best  policy  is  tu  hold  on  to  our  one 
ton  cars,  and  work  the   "medium  dip"  seams  horizontally. 

The  most  im, proved  method  of  tramming  and  removing 
the  "medium  dip"  coal,  that  has  come  under  my  observation, 
is  that  mostly  used  in  the  county  of  Lancashire,  England. 
The  diagram  opposite  is  the  ground  plan  showing  endless 
wire  rope  haulage,  and  section  of  it,  and  I  shall  designate  it 
as  the  '"Lancashire  Method." 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  in  that  county 
the  system  of  "underground  wire  rope  haulage"  is  in  almost 
universal  use.  This  "Lancashire  method,"  is  an  application 
of  the  "endless  wire   rope   haulage";  the  slope  is  double 


MINING.  121 

tracked,  the  endless  rope  ascending  up  the  middle  of  one 
track  and  going  down  the  middle  of  the  other.  The  room 
roads  connecting  with  the  slope  on  each  side,  are  opposite 
each  other ;  and  in  both  tracks  there  are  level  spaces  oppo- 
site the  room  entrances,  to  facilitate  the  pushing  the  mine 
car  under  the  rope  towards  or  from  either  track. 

The  method  of  hitching  the  mine  car  to  the  wire  rope  is 
by  means  of  two  chains  (one  at  each  end  of  the  car)  re- 
sembling our  trace  chains,  only  with  shorter  links  is  the 
hitch  to  the  rope  is  made  in  the  same  time  (about  one 
second),  that  the  other  end  of  the  chain  is  hooked  to  the  end 
of  the  mine  car.  In  hitching  to  the  wire  rope  they  give  the 
end  of  the  chain  a  sharp  swing  around  the  rope,  and  after 
the  hook  has  made  two  rounds,  th'^y  catch  the  hook  with 
the  other  hand  and  put  it  over  the  chain.  When 
the  slope  is  made  down  the  "dip,"  then  full  cars  are 
hitched  to  the  ascending  rope,  but  when  the  slope  is  made 
np  the  rise  of  the  coal,  then  the  fall  cars  are  hitched  to  the 
descending  rope.  The  system  is  used  for  lowering  loaded 
cars  to  a  lower  gangway,  and  for  hoisting  them  to  a  higher 
gangway,  and  it  works  well  at  either,  and  by  this  method  in 
circumstances  that  suit  it,  coal  can  be  conveyed  a  given  dis- 
tance underground  at  less  cost  than  by  any  other  appliance. 
The  Lancashire  method  jast  suits  their  mine  cars ;  their 
endless  ropes  have  a  continuoas  steady  motion  of  1  1-4  to 
2  1-2  miles  an  hour  without  stopping  the  whole  day  ;  every 
miner  is  trained  and  able  to  push  his  car  under  the  rope, 
and  have  it  under  way,  without  interfering  with  the  car 
following  after  it. 

Our  cars  are  so  much  heavier  than  theirs  that  it  would 
probably  be  impossible  for  one  man  to  push  them  under  the 
rope  and  hitch  them  quickly  enough  to  keep  them  out  of 
the  way  of  the  following  cars.  I  am  uncertain  about  the 
possibility  of  using  the  above  described  method  with  one 
of  our  one  ton  cars,  so  shall  leave  it  to  time,  or  some  of  our 
enterprising  mine  operators  to  decide  its  feasibility  with 
the  mine  cars  are  now  in  use  here. 

Another  system  of  mining  the  "medium  dip"  seams,  or, 
more  correctly,  a  combiuation  of  different  and  various 
methods  now  in  successful  operation  in  many  old  established 


122  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

mining  districts,  is,  in  my  judgment,  superior  to  any  other 
method  for  seams  having  a  dip  of  from  10  to  25  degrees 
from  the  horizontal :  it  is  the  best  suited  to  our  seams,  our 
mine  cars,  to  our  miners,  and  to  our  "pillar  and  room" 
habits  of  working  ;  and,  as  it  is  a  combination  of  methods 
partly  used  in  one,  and  partly  in  other  districts,  we  shall 
designate  it  as  the  "  Combination  method." 

In  this  method,  the  system  of  conducting  the  underground 
workings  is,  to  have  but  one  single  track  slope  driven  in  the 
direction  of  the  dip.  This  we  will  name  the  drainage 
slope ;  the  pumps  being  in  a  narrow  air-way  at  one  side  of 
it.  By  this  slope  all  the  coal  within  its  jurisdiction  or 
territory  will  be  drained,  and  it  will  also  be  the  medium 
through  which  the  coal  and  slate  of  the  adjoining  gangway 
end  hoisting  slope  must  be  brought  to  the  surface.  All 
work  in  this  system  will  be  driven  either  horizontally  or 
directly  up  the  rise  of  the  coal,  (excepting  the  draining 
slope.) 

The  diagram  opposite  gives  an  outline  of  this  system  of 
working, 

A  pump  and  air-way  is  driven  up  at  one  side  of  the 
drainage  slope,  and  hoisting  slopes  are  driven  up  at  suitable 
distances  on  each  side  of  the  drainage  slope.  In  order  to 
avoid  the  expense  connected  with  long  underground  haulage, 
the  rooms  are  all  driven  horizontally  or  nearly  so,  the  grade 
of  the  room  tracks  mast  be  laid  to  the  proper  inclination, 
by  means  of  a  tapering  grade  stick,  with  glass  level  im- 
bedded in  plaster  of  Paris,  and  adjusted  to  a  three-eights 
grade  (or  S-Sths  of  an  ioch  to  the  hundred  inches),  or  to 
such  grade  as  the  size  and  style  of  wheel  used  in  mine  cars 
may  require. 

The  drainage  slope  will  require  coal  pillars  large  enough 
for  its  permanent  security.  With  this  method  a  room  can 
be  advanced  150  i/ards  with  no  more  outlay  of  strength  and 
muscle  to  deliver  the  coal  ad  secure  an  empty  car,  than 
will  be  required  to  advance  a  room  150  feet  diagonally  up 
our  "medium  dip"  seams,  or  in  other  words  the  miner  can 
push  his  full  car  out,  and  return  with  the  empty  150  yards, 
at  less  cost  and  exertion,  than  would  be  expended  in  the 
same  work  through  150  feet  in  the  diagonally  driven  room 
up  the  pitch  of  our  medium  dip  seams. 


[f^ 450  FEET- ^>j 


MINING.  123 

The  grade  stick  can  be  so  adjusted  that  the  same  muscular 
strength  will  be  rexuired  to  push  the  full  car  down,  as  to 
push  the  empty  car  up,  the  only  trouble  being  to  put  the 
grade  stick  on  the  track  when  laying  it,  and  support  or 
lower  the  ties  until  the  bubble  sets  right.  On  the  diagram 
the  distance.^  between  the  hoisting  slopes  are  spaced  in 
pannels  of  900  feet,  but  that  distance  can  be  lengthened  or 
shortened  to  suit  the  locality  and  the  seam.  The  method 
of  working  "medium  dip"  seams,  has  less  amount  of  narrow 
work  to  a  given  acreage  of  coal  than  any  other  method  yet 
made  known,  excepting  the  "long  wall"  method,  acd  before 
we  can  adopt  the  latter,  we  must  reduce  the  size  of  our 
<3ars,  and  train  and  discipline  our  miners  to  work  under  a 
^'sagging"  roof,  and  if  the  "long  wall"  is  the  "withdrawing" 
kind,  we  must  lay  tracks  along  the  "face  or  breast."  The 
hoisting  power  at  the  top  of  each  hoisting  slope,  can  be 
either  steam  or  electric  motor  connected  with  a  central 
dynamo.  If  steam  is  used,  the  water  would  probably  have 
to  be  piped  from  the  drainage  slope. 

The  long  underground  haulage  is  one  of  the  chief  draw- 
backs to  our  "medium  dip"  seam  mining;  in  some  districts 
the  usual  way  to  curtail  that  expense  is  to  establish  the  un- 
derground wire  rope  haulage  system.  In  the  "combination 
method"  the  car  bodies  are  strongly  made  wooden  boxes 
of  rectangular  shape,  of  one  ton  capacity.  These  are  de- 
tachable from  the  trams  or  trucks.  In  the  rooms,  the  trams 
consist  of  aflat  platform  resting  on  the  trucks,  and  of  a  size 
sufficient  to  hold  a  single  car  body.  In  the  hoisting  slope, 
the  "hoisting"  or  "slope"  tram  consists  of  a  long  iron 
frame  work  on  trucks,  on  which  are  constructed  four  steps 
or  scaffolds,  so  arranged  with  reference  to  the  slope  of  the 
track,  as  to  have  the  floors  of  these  platforms  level  at  the 
steepest  part  of  the  slope.  On  each  of  these  platforms 
is  placed  one  of  the  detachable  car  bodies  above  referred  to. 
The  Diagram  following  p.  124  shows  the  construction  of  the 
"slope  tram"  with  a  car  body  resting  on  each  of  the  four 
platforms,  with  ground  plan  of  skpe  and  room  roads;  also 
longitudinal  cross  sections  of  slope,  showing  hoisting  tram. 

The  miner  takes  the  empty  mine  car  body  from  the  "slope 
tram"  and  replaces  it  with  a  loaded  or  full  one,   signals  to 


124  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

the  engineman  to  hoist  away,  and  goes  back  to  his  room 
with  the  empty  car  to  get  another  car  load,  thus  requiring 
only  one  trip  to  deliver  a  one  ton  car  of  coal.  The  "emp- 
ties" are  taken  from  the  "slope  tram,"  and  the  full  car 
bodies  placed  upon  the  same,  by  means  of  an  iron  post 
crane  placed  at  the  angle  of  the  room  road.  At  this  point 
the  slope  pillar,  instead  of  coming  out  to  an  angle,  is  cut 
away  sufiSciently  to  give  space  called  a  "siding"  (but  which  has 
no  side  track),  for  the  empty  car  to  be  swung  from  the  slope 
tram  and  held  suspended  out  of  the  way,  while  the  full  car 
body  is  being  placed  upon  the  slope  tram,  after  which  the 
empty  is  swung  still  further  around  and  lowered  upon  the 
platform  of^the  room  truck,  from  which  the  loaded  car  has 
just  been  removed.  This  necessitates  at  each  room  entrance, 
two  cranes  (upon  a  swivel  post).  The  crane  for  the  empty 
car  body  being  of  a  lighter  construction  and  placed  on  the 
upper  side  of  the  post;  that  for  the  loaded  car,  heavier  and 
on  the  lower,  or  room  entrance  side.  [See  Diagrams,  one 
opposite,  and  two  followiug  p.  126.]  From  the  end  of  each  of 
the  cranes  there  is  suspended  by  a  swivel  joint  in  the  centre, 
a  light  beam  of  the  length  of  a  car  body.  This  beam  has  a 
small  pulley  at  each  end,  over  which  passes  a  wire  cord 
terminating  in  a  hook  and  fastened  at  the  other  end  to  run- 
ning nuts  on  a  double  screw,  actuated  by  a  crank,  on  the 
same  principle  as  the  screws  of  the  log  cariiage  of  a  circu- 
lar saw.  This  arrangement  is  for  raising  and  lowering  the 
car  bodies.  The  screw  for  the  "empties"  is  coarser,  giving  a. 
a  more  rapid  lift,  than  that  for  the  loaded  cars.  The  second 
diagram  opposite  p,  126,  shows  the  arrangement  of  the  screw 
threads  and  crank  for  raising  the  mine  car  body  from  the  room 
tram  or  from  the  slope  tram.  A  catch  lever  is  arranged  at 
the  side  of  the  slope  track  opposite  the  room  road,  to  ena- 
ble the  miner  to  stop  the  "slope  tram"  at  either  one  of  the 
four  platforms  or  scaffolds  on  which  the  mine  cars  rest  in 
their  transit  up  or  down  the  slope.  The  mine  car  body  is 
raised  up  from  the  tram  truck,  or  up  from  the  "slope  tram" 
by  means  of  a  screw,  which  the  miner  turns  by  a  crank  as 
above  described;  the  screw,  when  rotated,  pulling  a  light 
wire  cord  above  described  suflScient  to  raise  the  car  body  a 
few  inches,  by  a  few  turns  of  the  crank;  the  crane  is  then 


MINING.  125 

swung  around  and  the  mine  car  body  let  down  by  means  of 
the  same  screw  either  on  to  the  room  tram  or  on  the  "slope 
tram." 

In  this  method  the  engiueman  alone  takes  the  place  of  all 
the  trammers  who,  in  other  methods,  are  employed  in  bring- 
ing coal  from  the  rooms  or  "breasts."  In  this  method  of 
minini;  the  "medium  dip"  coal,  there  is  a  less  amount  of 
narrow  work  in  the  form  of  gangways  and  air  courses,  than 
in  any  ol  the  usual  methods;  there  is  a  much  lighter  force 
of  trammers  needed,  and  especially  there  no  coal  rakers, 
killing  time  in  the  shutes,  in  their  dallying  efforts  to  get  the 
coal  down  the  shutes  to  the  gangway. 

If  the  Pit  Head  Frame  and  loading  shute  and  screws  are 
properly  arranged,  the  "medium  dip"  coal  can  be  mined  by 
this  method  at  a  very  little  if  at  all  higher  cost  than  the 
coal  of  the  flat  seams.  The  preceding  diagram  shows  a  sec- 
tion along  the  hoisting  slope,  giving  an  outline  of  the  "slope 
tram,"  with  form  of  the  platforms  or  scaffolds  for  holding 
the  mine  car  bodies;  also  a  ground  plan  of  the  hoisting 
slope  with  its  connecting  room  roads,  and  sidings  for  empty 
mine  cars;  also  the  position  of  the  iron  post  cranes  for  re- 
ceiving and  delivering  the  mine  cars. 

The  first  duty  of  the  miner  on  arriving  at  the  slope  from 
his  room  with  his  full  mine  car,  is  to  signal  to  the  engine- 
man  by  means  of  the  annunciator,  that  his  number  requires 
the  "tram  slope"  with  empty  car,  and  is  ready  to  deliver  a 
full  car;  the  engineman's  duty,  after  acknowledging  receipt 
of  this  order,  is  to  signal  back  to  the  number  at  which  he 
intends  to  stop  his  "slope  tram,"  that  he  is  going  to  stop 
at  that  point.  As  the  slope  tram  nears  this  place  the  en- 
gineman  causes  it  to  move  slowly  in  order  to  give  the  miner 
the  opportunity  of  seeing  which  platform  of  the  tram  holds 
an  empty  car  body,  and  of  stopping  it,  by  throwing  up  his 
catch  lever,  so  as  to  bring  this  platform  and  empty  car  body 
exactly  opposite  his  room  track.  He  then  removes  the 
empty,  and  puts  on  the  full  car  body  and  signals  to  the  en- 
gineman  to  hoist  away.  He  then  swings  the  empty  car 
around  upon  the  room  tram,  pushes  it  back  to  the  breast  to 
be  loaded  again.  The  signals  between  the  miner  and  the 
engineman  must  be  the  "electric,"  each  miner  having  a  wire 


126  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

to  himself,  with  an  electric  light  at  each  crane  during  work- 
ing hours.  The  ends  of  the  room  tracks  must  be  curved  up 
so  as  to  prevent  the  mine  car  from  ever  running  into  the 
slope.  The  first  diagram  opposite  shows  a  section  along 
the  slope,  and  across  the  room  entrances  and  the  entrance 
to  two  rooms. 

In  this  method  the  amount  of  work  necessary  to  fit  up 
the  post  crane  and  make  the  siding,  is  not  half  that  required 
to  open  a  room  and  put  in  a  switch  in  the  ordinary  level 
gangway.  To  fit  up  the  post  crane,  all  that  is  required  is 
to  dig  a  hole  in  the  roof  sufficiently  deep  to  hold  the  head 
of  the  post  and  prevent  its  slipping,  then  dig  another  hole 
exactly  under  that  one  (by  a  plumb  line),  in  the  bottom 
slate,  put  in  place  the  post  which  is  of  iron  and  in  two  parts 
fitting  one  into  the  other  by  a  screw,  and  turn  it  after  the 
manner  of  a  jackscrew,  until  it  presses  sufficiently  against 
roof  and  floor  to  prevent  its  moving.  The  remainder  of  the 
work  consists  in  digging  oflf  the  corner  of  the  slope  pillar 
sufficiently  to  make  room  for  the  empty  car  to  stay  out  of 
the  way  of  both  slope  track  and  room  track. 

The  scaffold  in  the  siding  is  not  absolutely  necessary,  but 
a  light  one  there  would  enable  the  miner  to  have  an  extra 
empty  car.  The  end  of  the  mine  car  body  must  have  two 
hitching  or  hooking  places,  one  at  its  top  edge  of  the  car  for 
the  miners  use,  the  other  about  the  middle  of  the  end  of  the 
car  for  the  top  or  bankman  to  hook  to  for  dumping  the  coal 
on  the  screen.  This  method  has  the  great  advantage  of 
allowing  the  mine  car  wheels  to  be  fastened  to  the  axle  in 
both  slope  tram  and  mine  cars.  There  are  no  curves  to  go 
around,  therefore  no  slip  of  wheels;  mine  cars  with  wheels 
fastened  to  the  axle,  the  axle  itself  rotating,  will  last  proba- 
bly twice  as  long  as  those  that  are  loose  and  have  the  axle 
bolted  to  the  bottom  of  the  cars  ;  they  also  run  much  lighter 
and  keep  the  proper  gauge  much  longer.  The  second  dia- 
gram opposite,  giving  a  section  along  the  room  roads  and 
across  the  hoisting  slope,  shows  the  arrangement  of  the 
screw  threads  and  crank  for  raising  the  mine  car  body  from 
the  tram  truck  or  from  slope  tram. 

In  this  method  the  Engineman  must  have  in  front  of  him 
(with  the  end  towards  him,  and  its  lower  edge  about  eight 


MINING.  127 

feet  above  the  floor),  a  cast  drum  with  large  thread  or  spi- 
ral cast  ou  it,  with  the  numbers  of  the  difi'erent  rooms  in 
large  figures  painted  on  the  spiral,  so  that  the  pointer  will 
show  him  the  exact  place  to  a  few  inches,  where  his 
''slope  tram  "  is,  in  order  that  he  may  run  slowly  when  ap- 
proaching the  entrance  to  a  room  where  he  is  to  stop  for  a 
loaded  car  to  be  added  ;  this  cast  drum  must  have  a  geared 
connection  with  the  hoisting-drum  shaft.  The  Engineman 
must  also  have  the  number  of  the  rooms  close  to  his  hands, 
so  that  he  can  arrange  them  in  the  order  in  which  the  calls 
from  below  are  made,  and  remove  them  as  the  order?^  are 
filled.  The  collection  of  wires  extending  from  the  Engine- 
man  to  the  entrance  of  each  room,  must  be  bundled  or 
twisted  together  and  wrapped  with  thin  sheet  lead  or  tarred 
cloth,  to  prevent  corrosion  from  exposure  to  dampness.  In 
this  method  the  wire  rope  has  no  sharp  corners  or  small 
pulleys  to  drag  around,  and  will  consequently  escape  the 
breaking  and  tearing  of  wire  strands  so  common  where  the 
ordinary  hoisting  rope  drags  the  mine  cars  out  of  the  gang- 
ways. 

To  facilitate  the  quick  delivery  of  the  loaded  cars  at  the 
top  of  the  slope,  the  upper  part  of  the  slope  track,  (that 
portion  next  the  large  rope  sheave),  must  be  double  tracked 
and  be  movable,  so  that  the  full  cars  when  they  arrive  there, 
can  be  pushed  to  one  side,  the  same  motion  bringing  the 
track  with  slope  tram  containing  the  empties  in  line  with 
the  slope,  so  that  the  engineman  is  not  delayed,  but  can  let 
down  the  emptv  cars  while  the  top  men  are  emptying  the 
full  ones.  Three  tracks  of  wide  guage  are  requisite  for  the 
screening  and  loading  shute,  one  for  "lump"  or  "run  of  the 
mine,"  one  for  "nut  and  slack,"  and  one  for  slate. 

If  this  method,  with  the  necessary  machinery,  were  in  com- 
mon use,  it  is  probable  that  it  would  be  used  for  "medium 
dips,"  of  even  from  five  to  thirty  degrees.  In  cases  where 
the  dip  of  the  seam  is  irregular,  and  becomes  too  flat  to 
allow  the  "slope  tram"  to  descend  and  overcome  the  drag 
of  the  rope,  a  light  tail  rope  would  have  to  be  used.  In 
this  method  the  "long  wall  system"  could  be  used  to  some 
extent,  but  considering  that  we  use  a  ton  tram  mostly,  and 
a  kind  of  room  track,  difi'erent  from  that  usually  employed 


128  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

in  loDf];  wall  mininp;,  and  that  our  miners  are  mostly  accus- 
tomed to  the  ''piUar  and  room"  system,  it  is  probably  best 
to  adopt  it  only  where  the  roof  is  good,  the  floor  not  too 
soft  and  apt  to  "swell  up,"  and  where  there  is  abundance 
of  hard  gob  material  to  give  some  support  to  the  roof.  In 
Warwickshire,  England,  they  mine  their  medium  dip  coal 
(from  fifteen  to  twenty  degrees),  by  the  "long  wall  drawing 
method;  a  full  description  of  which  is  given  by  William  S 
Gresley  in  the  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal  of  August 
17th,  1889,  and  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  it  is  the  most  im- 
proved method  of  mining  the  medium  dip  seams  now  in 
use  in  Warwickshire,  and  that  it  suits  their  condition  of 
mining  matters,  is  very  evident.  In  the  first  place,  they 
have  to  go  to  their  boundary  to  commence  the  withdrawal 
of  the  coal,  while  in  our  case,  most  of  our  mine  proprietors 
know  that  even  their  grandchildren  will  never  extend  their 
underground  workings  to  their  boundaries;  in  the  second 
place,  their  small  square  sided  mine  cars  can  be  taken  be- 
tween the  props  and  the  face  of  the  coal,  much  more  readily 
than  our  cars  of  the  Monongahela  pattern;  in  the  third 
place  their  room  tracks  have  a  sawed  flat  tie,  of  one  and  a 
quarter  inch  thickness,  with  the  ends  of  the  rails  locking 
into  one  another,  and  with  holes  in  the  ties  that  keep  their 
rails  in  guage,  so  that  they  can  move  their  tracks  along  the 
breast,  while  we  are  knocking  out  the  wedges,  or  drawing 
the  spikes  of  ours. 

While  in  Europe,  some  ten  years  ago,  the  underground 
system  of  wire  rope  haulage  received  my  attention,  and  I 
devoted  several  months  to  a  thorough  examination  of  the 
various  methods  of  using  it,  and  found  its  greatest  develop- 
ment in  the  Wigan  district  of  Lancashire,  England.  It  was 
no  new  experiment  to  them,  as  several  of  the  mine  superin- 
tendents informed  me  that  they  had  abandoned  the  use  of 
pony  or  mule  and  trammer,  twenty  years  previous  to  the 
time  of  my  examination,  or  now  a  generation  ago.  The 
proprietors  and  managers  showed  me  ropes  that  they  were 
using  then,  that  they  had  been  using  constantly  under- 
ground the  thirteen  years  prior  to  that,  the  rope  still  good. 

Their  underground  haulage  ropes  are  made  of  steel  wire, 
with  a  hemp  core.     In  one  pit  that  had  a  regular  output  of 


MINING.  129 

800  tons  per  day,  they  had  but  one  mule  or  pony  in  the  pit 
at  any  time,  and  it  was  in  charge  solely  of  the  repair  man, 
to  haul  about  their  props  and  repair  material.  The  mine 
proprietors  informed  me  that,  if  they  were  to  fall  back  to 
the  old  style  of  pony  (or  mule)  and  trammer  to  haul  their 
coal  to  the  pit  bottom,  that  it  would  ruin  their  business, 
for  they  could  not  compete  in  that  case  with  their  neighbors 
using  the  underground  wire  rope  haulage. 

They  had  passed  the  experimental  stage  long  ago,  knew 
at  a  glance  the  kind  of  pulley  or  sheave,  in  their  great 
variety,  that  was  essential  to  enable  the  rope  to  work  well 
in  the  thousand  and  one  difficult  localities  of  their  gang- 
ways and  slopes.  They  have  a  large  number  of  variously 
shaped  pulleys,  and  modify  their  methods  of  using  their 
wire  ropes  to  suit  the  varying  circumstances  that  surround 
them.  They  have  two  methods  of  conveying  the  power 
down  their  pits  to  their  systems  of  wire  rope  haulage  :  the 
one  in  most  general  use  is  compressed  air  from  air  com- 
pressors at  the  top,  to  compressed  air  engines  near  the 
bottom  of  the  pit;  the  other  method  is  to  have  a  steam 
engine  at  the  pit  top,  geared  as  to  give  a  slow  motion  to  a 
large  broad  grooved  sheave,  having  two  or  three  wraps  of 
the  rope  around  it.  This  is  carried  down  the  pit  to  the  pit 
bottom,  and  from  thence  to  the  various  parts  of  the  pit, 
where  the  power  is  needed  ;  this  rope  is  driven  at  a  speed  of 
1  1-4  to  1  1-2  miles  per  hour ;  this  manner  of  conveying  the 
power  suits  the  endless  rope  the  best,  while  the  compressed 
air  engine  suits  the  "tail  rope  method,"  or  any  style  where 
quick  motion  is  required.  The  leading  systems  in  use 
mostly  are : 

The  Endless  Rope  System. 

•The  Tail  Eope  System. 

The  Simple  Engine  Plane  or  Slope. 

The  Gravity  or  Self-Acting   Plane   or  Slope  (called 
when  the  rope  is  endless,  an  "endless   jig.") 
These  systems  are  all  modified  to  some  extent  to  suit  the 
varying  circumstances.     The  endless  variety  of  their  appli- 
ances to  prevent  their  ropes  from  rubbing,  convinced  me  that 
they  paid  close  attention   to   wear  and  tear  of  their  under- 
9 


180  GEOLOGICAL  SUBVET  OP  ALABAMA. 

ground  ropes,  some  of  which  are  over  two  miles  in  length. 
Their  endless  ropes  run  slowly;  1  1-4:  miles  per  hour  is 
deemed  best,  2  1-2  miles  per  hour  being  their  highest  speed. 
Their  common  hoisting  speed  in  pits  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
Tertical  depth,  is  one  minute  for  the  quarter  of  a  mile;  this 
includes  the  slow  run  near  top  and  bottom  ;  one  of  their 
tail  rope  trains  of  about  ten  cars,  passed  me  in  one  of  their 
gangways  at  a  speed  of  ten  miles  per  hour;  this  rather 
surprised  me,  but  I  was  more  astonished  on  noticing  that 
the  boy  in  charge  of  the  train  was  stretched  out  at  full  length 
on  top  of  the  last  mine  car,  his  head  and  back  not  over  a 
foot  from  the  roof;  his  only  chance  to  stop  the  train  was  to 
jerk  the  signal  wire  at  the  side  of  the  gangway,  the  engine 
being  a  half  mile  away. 

I  was  informed  by  the  mine  managers  that  ten  miles  per 
hour  was  the  ordinary  speed  of  their  "tail  rope  trains"  in 
the  middle  of  the  haul.  Yet  with  all  the  advantages  and 
economy  of  the  system  of  underground  wire  rope  haulage, 
the  lack  of  machinery  and  appliances,  the  absence  of  labor 
skilled  and  trained  to  handle  and  use  it,  will  no  doubt  cause 
our  mine  managers  to  hesitate  considerably  before  adopting 
it,  but  should  any  of  them  decide  to  adopt  it,  their  best 
plan  would  be  to  go  and  see  it  in  operation,  examine  the 
different  systems,  and  study  the  various  changes  made  in 
the  use  of  the  appliances  to  suit  the  different  conditions 
and  circumstances,  then  make  arrangements  to  secure  the 
machinery  and  appliances  as  needed,  in  the  section  of 
country  where  wire  rope  haulage  is  well  understood  and 
extensively  used ;  then  begin  with  the  simplest  and  easiest 
form  of  wire  rope  haulage  and  increase  gradually  as  the 
laborers  become  more  skilled  and  trained.  To  begin  to 
adopt  it  in  its  more  complicated  forms,  perhaps  might 
lesult  in  failure  and  disaster.  For  conveying  power  to  the 
"tail  rope  system,"  or  any  other  quick  motion  system  of 
underground  haulage,  where  it  is  a  long  distance  from  day- 
light, the  dynamo,  electric  wire  and  electric  motor  is  supe- 
rior to  compressed  air  or  any  other  method,  and  more 
economical  The  electric  wire  will  yet  supply  with  power 
all  mining  pumps  and  wire  rope  haulage  systems,  that  are 
situated  a  long  distance  from  daylight. 


MINING.  131 

Instead  of  copper  wire,  iron  rods  of  5  or  6  times  the  se«- 
tional  area  of  the  copper  wire,  will  answer  equally  as  w«ll 
or  better,  for  conveying  power  underground. 

For  conveyance  of  power  from  the  surface  to  endless  rope 
systems  that  are  not  very  distant  from  daylight,  the  rope 
itself,  driven  by  a  steam  engine  at  the  surface,  and  moving 
at  the  rate  of  1^  miles  per  hour,  is  the  cheapest  and  most 
economical  conveyance  of  power  to  underground  haulage. 
There  is  nothing  more  certain  than  that  in  the  future,  wire 
rope  haulage  power  and  the  electric  power,  will  be  used 
extensively  in  underground  mining  operations.  It  may  be 
safer  to  be  wary  and  move  cautiously  in  their  adoption,  in- 
creasing their  use  gradually,  still  it  is  only  a  matter  of 
time  as  to  their  general  adoption. 

In  the  gangway  of  our  Cahaba  Field  mines,  the  overhead 
electric  wire  would  be  too  dangerous  if  not  insulated.  In 
fact  all  electric  wires  of  high  voltage  placed  in  mines  should 
either  be  insulated,  or  placed  in  narrow  channels  so  that 
there  would  be  no  possible  chance  of  the  minor  coming  ia 
contact  with  them. 

The  storage  battery  with  electric  motor  (thus  doing  with- 
out wires),  is  the  best  and  safest  msthod  of  underground 
electric  haulage  in  gangways  that  are  level,  or  nearly  so. 

In  conveying  power  to  pumps  or  drills,  there  is  no  neett- 
sity  for  using  any  but  insulated  wires. 


PART  11. 

GEOLOGICAL  STEUCTURE  AND  DESCRIPTION  OF 

THE  VALLEY  REGIONS  ADJACENT  TO  THE 

CAHABA  COAL  FIELD. 

— BY — 

EUGENE   A.    SMITH. 


CONTENTS 


I. — Origin  of  the  Rocks  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field  and  adjacent 
Regions,  and  the  Agencies  which  have  brought  them  into 
their  present  position Page  137 

II. — Classification  of  these  Rocks,  and  their  distinguishing  Char- 
acters   •.  Page  146 

m. — Distribution  of  the  Rocks  of  the  different  Geological  Forma- 
tions in  the  Valleys  bordering  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field. Page  159 


I.     ORIGIN  OF  THE  ROCKS  OF  THE  OAH^BA  COAL 

FIELD  AND  ADJACENT  REGIONS,  AND  THE 

AGENCIES  WHICH  HAVE  BROUGHT 

THEM  INTO  THEIR  PRESENT 

POSITIONS. 


The  map  and  sections  of  Mr.  Squire  exhibit  the  structure 
of  the  Cahaba  Field  in  sufficient  detail,  but  a  few  words  ex- 
planatory of  the  relations  of  this  field  to  tlie  others,  and  to 
the  valleys  lyin<y  between  them  seem  to  be  required. 

It  is  the  commonly  received  opinion  among  geologists, 
and  an  opinion  capable  of  demonstration,  that  the  older 
stratified  or  bedded  rocks  of  the  Appalachian  region  of  the 
United  States,  in  which  is  included  Cahaba  Coal  Field  and 
the  regions  above  alluded  to,  were  formed  partly  out  of  the 
detritus  of  a  previously  existing  land  mass  lying  to  the  east- 
ward of  the  present  shore  line  of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and 
partly  out  of  the  calcareous  and  siliceous  matters  accumu- 
lated through  the  agency  of  living  organisms,  in  the  depths 
of  an  inland  sea  which  formerly  occupied  the  position  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  present  United  States.  This  detritus, 
washed  down  by  rains  and  transported  by  rivers,  was  finally 
spread  upon  the  floor  of  this  inland  sea.  Naturally  by  far 
greater  part  of  this  land  waste  would  be  deposited  close  to 
the  shore  line,  while  only  the  finer  sediments  such  as  silt 
and  mud  would  be  held  in  suspension  long  enough  to  be 
carried  far  out  to  sea  and  be  deposited  there,  and  in  the 
clear  and  moderately  deep  waters  of  the  sea  at  a  distance 
from  the  shore  would  flourish  the  corals,  and  other  organ- 
isms that  formed  the  limestones  and  part  of  the  chert  or 
siliceous  matters.  If  the  floor  of  this  interior  sea  remained 
stationary  while  receiving  these  sediments,  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  it  would  very  soon  be  silted  up  by  the  washings  from 
the  land,  and  that  no  great  thickness  of  variety  in  the  sedi- 
ments would  be  seen  at  any  one  place  ;  we  should  not  find, 


138  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

for  instance,  alternations  of  limestone  with  sandstones  and 
conglomerates,  while,  in  point  of  fact,  the  sediments  which 
make  the  rocks  of  these  older  formations  are  many  thousand 
feet  in  thickness  and  consist  of  sandstones,  conglomerates, 
shales,  and  limestones  in  many  alternations. 

All  this  is  clear  demonstration  that  the  floor  of  th«  sea 
did  not  remain  stationary  during  this  period,  but  subsided, 
— at  least  to  the  extent  of  the  thickness  of  the  sediments 
accumulated  upon  it, — not  steadily  and  continuously,  but 
with  many  pauses  of  downward  movement,  alternating  even 
with  movements  in  the  opposite  direction,  which  went  so 
far  at  times  as  to  bring  parts  of  the  sea  bottom  above  the 
water,  and  to  afford  the  requisite  conditions  for  the  accumu- 
lation of  those  immense  beds  of  vegetable  matter  that  con- 
stitute the  seams  of  coal. 

In  the  manner  above  sketched,  there  were  accumulated 
upon  the  floor  of  the  interior  sea,  and  in  the  marshes  and 
peat  bogs  of  the  land,  and  in  the  estuaries  of  the  rivers, 
during  a  period  of  whose  duration  we  have  no  means  of 
making  a  definite  estimate,  beds  of  gravel,  sand,  mud  and 
limestone,  and  coal  beds,  of  varying  thickness  according  to 
position ;  from  40,000  feet  near  the  margin  of  the  sea  where 
the  greater  part  of  the  land  waste  was  deposited,  to  4,000 
feet  further  out  to  sea  where  the  materials  deposited  were 
mainly  calcareous  and  siliceous.  These  beds  contain  the 
remains  of  the  animals  and  plants  that  flourished  upon  the 
land  or  in  the  waters  of  the  ocean  during  the  period  of  their 
accumulation,  and  when  consolidated  and  elevated  above 
sea  level  they  constitute  the  rocks  of  the  various  geological 
formations.  These  rocks  and  their  contained  organic  re- 
mains, have  been  objects  ol  study  and  investigation  among 
geologists  for  many  years,  and  as  one  of  the  results  of  these 
investigations,  they  have  been  classed  together  into  a  num- 
ber of  great  groups  having  certain  common  characteristics 
of  mineral  composition  and  fossils.  The  names  of  these  great 
geological  groups  or  formations  beginning  at  the  lowest  and 
proceeding  upwards,  are  Cambrian,  Silurian,  Devonian,  and 
Carboniferous.  The  maximum  thickness  of  the  rocks  of 
these  formations,  as  they  are  displayed  in  Alabama,  may  be 
approximately  given   as   follows :     Cambrian   10,000  feet ; 


VALLEY  REGION  ;   ORIGIN   OP  THE  ROCKS,  139 

Silurian  5,000  feet ;  Devonian  100  feet ;  Carboniferous  6,500 
feet,  making  in  all  not  less  than  21,600  feet. 

We  must  next  endeavor  to  explain  how  these  beds  have 
been  elevated  above  the  sea  so  as  to  become  a  part  of  the  dry 
land,  and  how  they  have  been  brought  into  the  positions 
which  they  now  occupy.  As  originally  deposited,  we  may 
infer  that  they  were  spread  out  upon  the  floor  of  the  interior 
sea  in  sheets  or  strata,  which,  allowing  for  the  slopes  and 
inequalities  of  the  sea  bottom,  and  the  greater  thickness  of 
the  deposits  near  the  shore,  were  in  approximately  horizon- 
tal position,  and  if  they  were  brought  up  above  sea  level  by 
some  gradual  and  uniform  motion  of  elevation,  we  should 
have  a  condition  of  things  such  as  prevails  in  the  lower  part 
of  this  State,  in  the  territory  made  by  the  newer  formations 
Cretaceous  and  Tertiary,  viz.,  the  beds  thus  elevated  would 
be  nearly  he  rizontal,  but  with  a  slight  slope  or  dip  towards 
the  sea,  or  towards  the  northwest ;  there  would  be  no 
mountains  or  great  inequalities  of  surface  except  such  as 
might  be  produced  by  the  erosion  of  rains  and  running 
waters,  and  at  any  one  place  only  a  very  few  feet  in  thick- 
ness of  strata  could  thus  be  exposed.  We  also  see  to  the 
northwest  of  the  region  with  which  we  are  here  concerned, 
in  Alabama,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  beyond,  approxi- 
mately level  or  horizontal  strata  into  which  erosion  has  cut 
only  a  few  hundred  feet,  and  exposed  only  a  few  hundred 
feet  of  the  uppermost  beds.  On  the  other  hand,  we  notice 
runuing  diagonally  through  the  upper  half  of  Alabama  and 
thence  northeahlvvard  thiuugh  the  other  States  to  Canada, 
a  belt  of  country  perhaps  to  150  to  200  miles  in  width,  the 
strata  of  which  are  seldom  in  horizontal  or  even  approxima- 
tely horizontal  position.  They  are  inclined  to  the  horizon  at 
varying  angles,  being  sometimes  even  perpendicular;  their 
outcropping  edge.s  may  be  followed  for  many  miles  in  a 
northeast  direction ;  the  lines  of  outcrop  of  the  edges  of 
different  beds  are  approximately  parallel  with  each  other, 
and  by  crossing  over  these  outcrops  in  a  direction  at  right 
angles  to  their  trend,  i.  e.,  from  southeast  to  northwest,  we 
may  pass  in  succession  over  the  strata  of  the  whole  series 
of  geological  formations  from  Cambrian  up  to  Coal 
Measures,  and  all  within  the  distance  of   a   few  miles.     A 


1^0  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

further  inspection  of  these  rocks  will  show  us  that  they  have 
not  only  been  tilted  up  but  have  been  crushed  together,  and 
folded  in  a  very  complex  way,  and  that  rocks  which  are 
widely  apart  in  the  geological  scale,  are  often  found  in  direct 
contact.  We  shall  see,  moreover,  that  these  disturbances 
are  more  profound  along  the  southeastern  part  of  this  belt, 
and  constantly  diminish  in  intensity  as  we  go  northwest- 
wards, so  that  the  strata  even  in  the  northwestern  part  of 
this  State,  are  thrown  very  little  out  of  their  originally 
horizontal  position.  It  is  evident  therefore,  that  the  strata 
of  this  region  have  been  subjected  to  the  action  of  some 
other  force  than  one  by  which  they  were  merely  gradually 
elevated,  and  that  whatever  may  have  been  the  origin  and 
nature  of  this  force,  it  was  much  more  pronounced  in  its 
effects  along  the  southeastern  border  of  the  disturbed  region, 
than  further  to  the  northwest. 

The  same  pecularities  of  structure  and  attitude  charac- 
terize the  rocks  of  the  whole  Appalachian  region  from  Ala- 
bama to  New  York  and  beyond,  and  these  matters  have 
been  closely  and  carefully  studied  by  many  of  the  best 
geologists  of  the  country,  the  brothers  Rogers,  Safford, 
Lesley,  Dana,  and  others  ;  most  of  the  peculiarities  of  Ap- 
palachian structure  have  been  described,  and  satisfactory 
explanations  of  the  approximate  causes  of  these  peculiari- 
ties have  been  given. 

No  one  who  will  carefully  examine  the  positions  of  the 
various  rocks  exposed,  for  instance,  in  Jones'  valley,  can 
fail  to  see  that  these  rocks  have  been  pushed  up,  in  such  a 
way  as  to  cause  their  broken  or  exposed  edges  to  trend  or 
run  in  the  general  direction  of  the  course  of  the  valley,  i.  e., 
northeast  and  southwest,  and  that  most  of  these  rock  ledges 
show  a  dip  or  slope  towards  the  southeast.  This  position 
of  originally  horizontal  beds  could  be  brought  about  only 
through  the  action  of  some  force  coming  either  from  the 
southeast  or  from  the  northwest,  and  compressing  them  to- 
gether in  that  direction  into  much  narrower  limits  than 
they  originally  occupied,  and  this  compression  into  narrower 
limits  could  take  place  only  by  the  strata  being  thrown  into 
a  series  of  wrinkles  or  folds,  or  by  their  being  rent  apart 
and  one  side  slipped  up  over  or  past  the  other.     There  are 


VALLEY   REGION  ;   ORIGIN    OF   THE   ROCKS.  141 

many  reasons  for  the  conclusion  Ibat  the  force  in  question 
came  from  the  southeast  rather  than  from  the  northwest,  one 
of  these  reasons  among  many,  as  already  said,  being  that 
the  intensity  of  the  disturbance  constaLtly  diminishes  as  we 
go  from  southeast  to  northwest. 

The  varying  degree  of  deformation  of  the  strata  by  vary- 
ing amounts  of  compression  can  be  imitated  on  a  small 
scale  and  illustrated  by  pressing  together  sheets  of  cloth  of 
clay  or  other  plastic  material. 

If  we  place  on  a  table  a  number  of  sheets  of  flexible  cloth 
piled  one  upon  the  other  like  the  sheets  in  a  pad  of  paper, 
and  fixing  one  edge  of  this  pad,  push  or  slide  along  the  table 
the  opposite  edge  towards  the  fixed  edge,  we  shall  see  that 
a  number  of  wrinkles  will  be  at  once  formed  across  the 
sheets  of  cloth  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  of  the  com- 
pression. If  we  continue  to  press  the  edges  of  the  sheets 
towards  each  other,  the  arches  will  rise  higher  and  higher, 
and  begin  to  lap  over  in  one  direction,  which,  in  the  majority 
of  cases,  will  be  the  direction  towards  which  the  shoving 
force  acts.  In  a  few  cases  the  troughs  will  be  shoved  under 
the  arches  and  the  folds  will  lap  over  in  the  opposite 
direction. 

Now,  if  we  study  closely  the  folds  or  wrinkles  into  which 
the  strata  of  the  region  about  which  we  are  now  writing  have 
been  thF;)wn,  we  may  easily  recognize  the  very  same  arrange- 
ment. There  are  simple  folds  or  arches,  with  almost  equal 
slope  on  each  side  of  the  crest  line,  but  these  are  rare ; 
there  are  folds  in  which  the  arches  have  been  pushed  over 
towards  the  northwest,  making  the  slope  on  that  side 
steeper  than  on  the  southeast,  these  are  very  common; 
there  are  folds  which  have  been  pressed  together  so  that 
the  two  sides  are  about  parallel,  and  then  lapped  over  to 
the  northwest,  these  are  also  very  common.  On  the  other 
hand  we  find  folds  in  which  the  troughs  have  been  shoved 
under  the  arches  so  as  to  cause  the  steeper  slope  to  be  on 
the  southeast  side,  and  when  this  movement  has  gone  on  far 
enough  the  arches  have  the  appearance  of  having  been  lap- 
ped together  and  pushed  over  towards  the  southeast  by  a 
force  acting  from  the  northwest;  these  cases  are  by  no  means 
so  common  as  the  others,   yet  we  see  in  Murphree's  Valley 


142  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

and  a  few  other  places  good  illustrations  in  point.  After 
the  folds  have  been  pressed  together  and  lapped  over  to  one 
side,  no  further  yielding  to  the  compressing  force  can  take 
place  except  by  the  giving  way  of  the  strata  and  the  sliding 
of  one  part  over  the  other,  in  other  words,  by  the  breaking 
apart  and  piling  up  of  the  beds.  Now  when  a  break  occurs 
in  a  fold  of  the  usual  type,  i.  e.,  one  which  has  been  pushed 
over  to  the  northwest,  it  is  along  the  crest  of  the  arch  where 
the  strain  has  been  greatest,  and  the  southeastern  side  slips- 
up  over  the  northwestern.  Faults  of  this  kind  are  usually 
designated  as  thrust  faults,  and  the  displacement  sometimes 
goes  so  far  as  to  shove  a  great  body  of  strata  over  other  beds 
for  many  hundreds  of  feet,  and  in  some  countries  for  miles 
even.  In  folds  of  the  other  class  named,  i.  e.  where  the 
troughs  have  been  shoved  under  the  arches,  the  break  oc- 
curs near  the  bottom  of  the  trough,  and  the  strata  on  the 
southeast  of  the  line  of  fault  are  slipped  under  those  on  the 
northwest.  The  general  effect  of  this  kind  of  slip  or  fault 
is  the  same  as  if  the  compressing  force  had  come  from  the 
opposite  direction  and  had  produced  a  thrust  fault  of  the 
ordinary  kind.  These  are  also  thrust  faults,  but  to  dis- 
tinguish them  from  the  normal  type  of  thrust  faults  thej 
might  perhaps  be  called  reversed  thrust  faults.  In  Mar- 
phree's  valley  and  west  of  McAshan  mountain,  we  have  fine 
illustrations  of  this  type  of  structure.  In  all  these  thrust 
faults  we  have  either  the  older  beds  slipped  up  oveV  newer 
ones,  or  newer  ones  shoved  under  the  older,  in  either  case 
bringing  about  a  reversal  of  the  natural  arrangement. 

But  there  is  another  kind  of  reversal.  We  have  seen  that 
all  our  Alabama  thrust  faults  are,  in  their  origin,  folds  in 
which  the  strain  of  the  compression  has  been  carried  beyond 
the  limits  of  endurance  of  the  strata,  and  hence  when  the 
break  occurs  along  the  crest  of  an  arch  of  the  typical  sort, 
the  gently  sloping  beds  of  the  over-riding  side  will  slip  up 
over  the  steeply  inclined  or  even  overturned  edges  of  the  beds 
of  the  overridden  side,  the  inclination  of  the  edges  of  this 
side  depending  upon  the  degree  of  overpush  or  over-lap  of 
the  fold,  and  it  may  be  quite  possible  that  in  the  movement 
of  tne  one  series  of  beds  over  the  other  the  edges  of  the 
underlying  series  may  bj  friction  be  bent  still  further  in  the 


VILLEY   REGION  ;   ORIGIN   OF  THE   ROCKS.  143 

direction  of  the  thrust.  In  this  way  the  upturned  edges  of 
the  overridden  side  may  be  carried  beyond  the  perpendicular 
and  be  actually  reversed.  Instances  of  this  kind  are  com- 
mon enough  ;  the  cross  section  given  on  another  page  shows 
it,  particularly  on  the  southeastern  border  of  the  Cahaba 
field,  and  on  that  of  the  Warrior  field. 

In  a  similar  way,  when  the  break  occurs  near  the  bottom 
of  a  trough  that  has  been  shoved  under  an  arch,  the  edges 
of  the  under-shoved  set  will  be  bent  or  turned  back  more  or 
less,  and  this  also  may  go  so  far  as  to  cause  a  reversal.  We 
see  this  along  the  eastern  edge  of  Murphree's  Valley  almost 
its  entire  length. 

So  far  as  I  know,  all  the  Alabama  thrust  faults  have 
highly  inclined  or  overturned  strata  on  one  side  of  the  faults, 
and  these  vertical  or  reversed  beds  will  be  on  the  northwest 
or  southeast  side  of  the  fault  according  to  the  character  of 
the  fault,  whether  a  typical  or  a  reversed  one.  In  the  great 
majority  of  cases  the  vertical  or  overturned  strata  are  on 
the  northwest  side,  for  the  reason  that  the  great  majority  of 
the  faults  are  typical  ones. 

Usually  the  upturned  edges  occupy  only  a  narrow  belt, 
because  part  of  them  are  generally  below  the  surface,  in  the 
fault,  and  covered  by  the  overriding  measures  ;  but  we  have 
one  magnificent  example  of  the  reversal  of  a  great  series  of 
beds,  in  the  overturned  measures  of  the  lower  part  of  the 
Cahaba  field,  west  of  Montevdllo,  for  here  is  a  strip  of  the 
Coal  Measures,  two  miles  wide  and  six  or  seven  miles  long, 
pushed  over  beyond  the  perpendicular  to  an  angle  of  60°, 
and  at  the  border  of  this  strip  we  have  the  instance  of  the 
complete  overturning  of  the  measures  and  the  gliding  of  the 
Cambrian  strata  over  them,  described  in  detail  in  another 
place  and  illustrated  by  a  photographic  view. 

The  folds  above  spoken  of  are  not  symmetrical  waves  with 
crest  and  trough  of  equal  width,  but,  as  may  be  seen  by  any 
map  of  the  Appalachian  region,  consist  of  rather  narrow 
crests,  with  wide  troughs  between,  in  which  the  strata  aie 
either  approximately  horizontal  or  only  slightly  undulating. 
These  troughs,  or  the  most  important  ones,  with  raised 
edges  and  with  the  strata  sloping  from  each'side  towards 
the  central  line  {synclinal),  are  the  coal  fields,  which  have  to 


144  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

greater  or  less  extent  resisted  the  denudation  which  carried 
away  so  much  material  from  the  intervening  crests.  It 
may  be  asked  why  the  strata  along  the  crests  of  the  folds 
were  so  much  more  completely  removed  than  from  the 
troughs.  One  reason  of  this  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
the  strata  along  the  crests  would  be  more  or  less  torn  and 
disrupted  from  the  strain  of  the  folding,  while  those  of  the 
troughs  would  be  more  or  less  compacted  by  compression. 
This,  along  with  other  causes,  has  led  to  the  formation  of 
anticlinal  valleys,  that  is,  of  valleys  which  have  been  eroded 
out  of  the  tops  or  crests  of  anticlinal  folds,  and  of  this 
character,  more  or  less  masked  by  faults,  overlaps,  and 
other  complications,  are  the  valleys  above  named  which 
border  the  Cahaba  field.  In  all  these  valleys,  the  strata 
were  raised  up  first  into  ridges  with  perhaps  originally 
somewhat  equal  slope  both  ways,  northwest  and  southeast 
from  the  central  line  {anticlinal);  with  increase  of  pressure 
the  folds  were  pushed  over  towards  the  northwest ;  com- 
pressed together  and  lapped  over  to  the  northwest ;  broken 
apart  and  slipped  ;  and  finally  by  erosion,  worn  down  into 
valleys  in  which  now  only  the  projecting  edges  of  the  strata 
are  seen.  These,  by  their  relative  position,  give  us  the 
clew  to  the  structure.  When  the  strata  were  thrown  into 
waves  by  the  compressing  force  above  spoken  of,  the  crests 
of  these  waves  were  raised  much  above  the  level  of  the  in- 
tervening troughs,  and  when,  by  subsequent  denudation 
these  arches  were  worn  down  to  the  general  level  or  nearly 
to  it,  the  lower  strata  of  the  arches  were  uncovered  and  ex- 
posed to  view,  usually  in  the  form  of  projecting  ledges  in 
the  case  of  the  harder  rocks,  and  of  trenches  in  the  case  of 
the  softer  and  more  easily  eroded  ones. 

In  this  way  the  strata  of  the  different  geological  forma- 
tions down  to  the  lowest,  have  come  to  occupy  the  surface 
in  these  valleys,  usually  in  strips  or  belts  which  run  ap- 
proximately parallel  to  the  length  of  the  valley,  and  which, 
in  consequence  of  the  anticlinal  structure  are  normally 
duplicated,  though  as  a  result  of  faults  they  sometimes  ap- 
pear only  once  in  a  section  across  the  valley,  and  sometimes 
where,  as  in  Jones'  Valley,  the  structure  is  a  double  anti- 
clinal combined  with  faults,  they  are  repeated  a  third  time. 


VALLEY  region;  ORIGIN   OF  THE  ROCKS.  145 

Illustrations  of  all  three  of  these  cases  will  be  given  in  the 
special  description  of  the  valleys. 

It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  state  in  so  many  words  that 
the  strata  of  our  different  Coal  Fields  as  well  as  of  the  geo- 
logical formatiors  that  underlie  them,  were  from  their  very 
mode  of  origin  continuous,  and  that  their  present  separa- 
tion has  come  about  through  the  foldings,  faults,  and  denu- 
dations, which  we  have  been  describing. 

We  might  infer  that  after  the  strata  had  been  thus  brought 
up  and  added  to  the  land  area,  their  subsequent  history 
would  be  merely  a  record  of  gradual  degradation  and  level- 
ing down  by  erosion.  But  we  have  evidence  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  region  shown  on  this  map,  that  after  this  part  of 
the  State  had  been  elevated  and  undergone  the  changes 
mentioned  and  attained  almost  its  present  configuration,  it 
was  in  part  again  submerged  below  the  water  level,  and  was 
overspread  by  the  washings  from  that  part  which  remained 
above  the  water.  Only  in  this  way  could  the  great  beds  of 
sand,  clay,  and  pebbles  which  cover  so  much  of  the  area  in 
the  lower  portion  of  the  map,  have  been  deposited  upon  the 
ridges  and  the  valleys  of  the  old  land  surface.  This  sub- 
mergence happened  during  the  period  termed  by  geologists 
the  Cretaceous,  which  is  comparatively  modern  as  contrasted 
with  the  age  of  the  formations  above  named.  From  the 
distribution  of  these  beds  we  can  see  that  the  shore  line 
during  this  time  of  partial  submergence  ran  in  a  curve 
stretching  from  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State  to  near 
the  middle,  at  Columbus,  Ga.  To  the  west  and  south  of 
that  line  the  land  sank  below  the  water,  while  it  remained 
above  water  to  the  east  and  north. 

And  still  later,  almost  in  modern  times,  geologically  speak- 
ing, when  the  dry  land  area  of  Alabama  had  attained  its 
present  extent,  and  the  surface  had  by  long  continued  denuda- 
tion acquired  almost  its  present  configuration,  our  State  was 
again  below  water,  receiving  deposits  of  pebbles,  sand  and 
mud,  which  in  the  upper  part  of  the  State  have  since  been 
in  great  measure  been  washed  away  again,  but  patches  of 
which  still  remain  often  upon  the  summits  of  the  highest 
hills.  In  the  lower  half  of  the  State  these  deposits  have 
10 


146  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY   OF  ALABAlfA. 

been  much  less  completely  removed,  but  remain  to  form  the 
great  bnlk  of  the  soils  of  that  section. 

Of  these  later  movements,  it  is  not  our  intention  to  speak 
except  in  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  to  explain  the  presence 
of  these  overlying  surface  beds  which  in  places  hide  the 
formations  with  which  we  are  now  more  particularly 
concerned. 


II.     CLASSIFICATION    OF    THESE    K0CK8     AND 
THEIR  DISTINGUISHING  CHARACTERS. 

With  this  sketch  of  the  manner  in  which  the  sediments 
were  cHci  mulated  and  afterwards  brought  up  above  sea 
level  and  iuto  the  positions  in  which  they  are  now  found, 
fre  may  go  on  to  speak  of  the  distinguishing  characters  of 
the  rocks  with  their  contained  fossils,  of  each  of  the  great 
groups  or  formations  Cambrian,  Silurian,  Devonian,  and  Car- 
boniferous, and  to  note  the  minor  subdivisions  into  which 
they  may  be  co\>  (^en^ently  arranged  for  purposes  of  study 
and  description  here  in  Alabama. 

It  would  lead  us  too  far  to  undertake  to  speak  of  the 
characteristic  fossils  of  each  of  these  formations,  except  to 
say  that  they  are  more  unlike  the  forms  of  the  present  day, 
the  further  we  go  back  in  the  geological  scale,  and  the  re- 
semblance to  living  plants  and  a^nimals  becomes  more  and 
moi'e  pronounced  as  we  approach  the  top  of  our  geological 
column ;  but  in  all  cases,  in  the  formations  with  which  we 
are  concerned  in  the  present  report,  the  resemblance  of  the 
fossils  to  living  forms  is  rather  remote.  This  has  led  to  the 
grouping  of  the  lour  formations  above  named  into  one 
division  which  has  been  called  Paleozoic  (Ancient  Life),  in 
allusion  to  the  want  of  resemblance  to  modern  forms. 
Except  at  a  very  few  horizons,  fossils  are  not  abundant  in 
our  Alabama  Paleozoic  rocks,  and  rarely  come  under  the 
notice  of  the  ordinary  observer,  yet  to  the  student  of  geology 
they  are  of  the  very  greatest  value  since  by  means  of  them 
it  becomes  comparatively  easy  to  determine  the  relative 
ages  of  the  different  formations  containing  them,  when  the 
■tratigraphical  relations  of  these  rocks  are  not  readily  made 
oat.    As  an  illustration  of  this  I  might  say  that  there  are 


VALLEY  REGION  ;  CHARACTERS   OF  THE  ROOKS.  147 

many  places  in  Alabama,  and  particularly  in  the  regiom 
covered  by  this  map,  where  the  rock  beds  have  been  com- 
pletely overturned,  so  that  the  older  beds  are  on  top  of  the 
younger.  It  would  often  be  impossible  to  determine  the 
relative  ages  of  these  rocks  by  their  physical  characters,  and 
where  they  have  been  overturned  their  relative  positio» 
would  of  course,  be  absolutely  misleading  if  we  judged  by 
tne  stratigraphical  position  alone ;  but  as  each  of  these  great 
divisions  has  its  characteristic  fossils,  these  become  in  many 
cases  our  safest,  and  sometimes  our  only  trustworthy  guides 
in  determining  the  age  of  the  rocks  in  which  they  are  im- 
bedded. 

Since  all  these  rocks  have  been  formed  either  out  of  the 
detritus  or  waste  of  previously  existing  land  masses  (con- 
glomerates, sandstones,  grits,  shales  and  slates),  or  through 
the  agency  of  living  organisms,  (limestones,  flinty  or  cherty 
matters,  and  coal  and  all  forms  of  bituminous  matters),  one 
would  naturally  think  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  dis- 
tinguish one  sandstone  or  one  limestone  from  another,  or  ia 
other  words  to  distinguish  one  of  our  geological  formations 
from  another  by  its  lithological  or  rock  characters.  A« 
a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  field  geologist,  after  a  very  few 
weeks  or  months  of  practice,  learns  to  distinguish  the 
different  formations  by  their  rocks,  and  hence  the  lithologi- 
cal characters  are  of  almost  equal  value  with  the  fossils  in 
clas3ifying  our  rock  formations,  and  inasmuch  as  the  fossils 
are  nowhere  very  abundant,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases 
we  make  use  of  the  lithological  characters  alone  in  studying 
and  identifying  the  different  geological  formations. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  it  is  nearly  impossible  to  describe 
the  rocks  of  these  older  formations  in  terms  which  will  en- 
able the  inexperienced  observer  to  identify  them,  yet  a  short 
account  of  the  prevailing  characteristics  of  the  rocks  is  nec- 
essary to  the  full  understanding  of  the  description  of  their 
distribution  in  the  valleys.  It  must,  however,  be  constantly 
borne  in  mind  that  the  characters  of  the  rocks  of  all^these 
formations  vary  with  the  geographical  locality,  they  being 
generally  coarser  in  texture  and  more  siliceous  towards. the 
east  than  farther  west.  Thus  in  the  Cambrian  formation 
there  are  in  the  Coosa  Valley  beds  of  immense  thickness  ot 


148  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

a  coarse  grained  sandstone  or  conglomerate,  which  in  the 
valleys  further  westward,  such  as  Cahaba  Yalley  and  Jones' 
Yalley,  are  wholly  wanting.  So  also  the  shales  of  the  same 
formation  are  sandier  in  composition  in  the  Coosa  Valley 
and  more  calcareous  in  the  two  other  valleys  named. 

THE  CAMBRIAN.— The  rocks  of  this  formation  are  con- 
glomerates, sandstones  and  shales  in  the  Coosa  Valley 
region,  and  shales  and  shaly  limestone  in  the  valleys  which 
occupy  part  of  the  area  of  this  map.  The  maximum  thick- 
ness may  be  put  at  10,000  feet,  but  this  great  thickness  is 
seen  only  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Coosa  Valley,  while  in 
Jones'  Valley  the  thickness  is  probably  less  than  half  the 
above. 

The  sub-divisions  of  the  Cambrian  which  we  recognize 
in  Alabama  are,  in  ascending  order,  as  follows  :  the  Coosa 
Shales,  the  Choccolocco  or  Montevallo  Shales,  and,interbed- 
ded  with  the  last  named,  the  Weisner  Quartzite. 

Coosa  Shales. — In  the  valleys  here  described  the  rocks 
are,  commencing  with  the  lowest,  thin-bedded  limestones 
with  clay  seams  between ;  usually  very  greatly  contorted 
and  tilted  at  high  angles.  Where  these  rocks  come  to  the 
surface  there  results  from  their  decomposition  a  very  stiff 
calcareous  clay  soil.  These  lands  being  very  level  and 
'hence  badly  drained,  are  not  much  cultivated,  and  in  Ala- 
bama are  generally  known  as  "Flatwoods."  The  town  of 
Bessemer  is  upon  one  of  these  "Flatwoods"  tracts,  and 
similar  areas  may  be  seen  between  Bessemer  and  Birming- 
ham, and  northeast  of  Springville  towards  Gadsden,  and  in 
the  immediate  valley  of  the  Coosa  River  up  to  and  beyond 
the  line  between  Alabama  and  Georgia.  The  shaly  lime- 
stones that  give  rise  to  these  "Flatwoods,"  we  have  called 
Coosa  Shales. 

Montevallo  Shales.-- Above  these  Coosa  Shales  we  find  a  con- 
siderable thickness  of  sandy  shales  of  a  great  variety  of  col- 
ors, such  as  olive,  green,  brown,  chocolate,  yellowish,  etc.  The 
original  material  was  a  calcareous  shale,  but  at  the  outcrops 
the  calcareous  matter  has  mostly  been  pretty  thoroughly 
leached  out,  and  only  the  more  siliceous  parts  left.  These 
shales  crumble  up  in  places  into  small  fragments  about  the 
size   and   shape   of  shoe-pegs.     Sometimes   they   are  more 


VALLEY  REGION;  CHARACTEES  OF  THE  ROCKS.     149 

tough  and  hard,  and,  especially  towards  the  east,  assume 
gradually  the  characters  of  the  semi-crystalline  rocks,  and 
it  is  capable  of  demonstration  that  some  of  the  partly 
crystalline  slates  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  Coosa  Valley 
are  only  the  changed  or  metamorphosed  representatives  of 
this  division,  which  has  been  called  the  Montevallo  or 
Choccohcco  Shales  from  the  characteristic  occurrences  in 
those  localities.  In  Jones'  and  Cahaba  Valleys  these  do 
not  play  a  very  important  part  except  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  Cahaba  Valley  from  Centerville  u^j  io  Montevallo.  Be- 
yond this  limit  they  outcrop  only  in  narrow  and  compara- 
tively unimportant  belts.  In  the  upper  part  of  the  Monte- 
vallo Shales  we  find  beds  of  blue  limestone  and  gray 
dolomite  which  are  often  difficult  to  distinguish  from  similar 
rooks  occurring  in  the  next  overiying  formation.  In  fact 
the  line  between  the  Shales  and  the  Knox  Dolomite  is,  so 
far  as  Alabama  is  concerned,  rather  an  arbitrary  one. 

Weisner  Quartzite. — In  the  Shales  above  described  and  most 
commonly  in  their  lower  parts,  are  found  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  Coosa  Valley  great  beds  of  quartzite  and  conglomerate 
many  hundred  feet  in  thickness,  but  often  of  very  limited 
extent  geographically.  The  quartzitas  always  form  high 
and  rugged  mountains  sometimes  stretching  for  miles  in  an 
unbroken  range,  but  as  often  forming  detached  and  isolated 
peaks,  rising  suddenly  out  of  the  plains  and  as  suddenly 
sinking  down  to  the  same  level.  The  "Mountain"  near 
Columbiana,  the  Kahatchee  Hills,  Alpine  Mountain,  Mount 
Parnassus  at  Talladega,  Cold  Water  Mountain  and  Blue 
Mountain  near  Anniston,  Ladiga  Mountain  above  Jackson- 
ville, Weisner  Mountain  east  of  Jacksonville,  are  instances 
of  occurrences  of  this  quartzite.  The  Weisner  Mountain 
above  named  has  been  best  studied,  and  its  stratigraphical 
relations  to  the  Coosa  Shales  and  to  the  Choccolocco 
Shales,  most  clearly  made  out,  for  which  reason  we  have 
U3ed  the  name  Weisner  Quartzite  to  designate  this  member 
of  our  Cambrian,  which  occurs  interpolated  in  the  Shales  as 
local  masses  of  lenticular  shape  and  often  of  very  great 
thickness. 

Prof.  Safford,  of  Tennessee,  has  given  the  name  Chilhoiuee 
to  similar  great  masses  of  sandstone  and  quartzite  occurring 


150  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

in  that  State  apparently  below  the  Shales  above  named,  which 
ke  designates  as  the  Knox  Shale  and  Sandstone.  In  Ten- 
nessee the  distinction  between  the  shale  and  the  sandstone 
member  of  the  Knox  Group,  can  be  consistently  followed 
oat,  but  it  does  not  seem  practicable  in  Alabama  to  separate 
the  two,  for  beds  of  tolerably  massive  sandstone  occur  at 
many  horizons,  interbedded  with  the  shalca  So  also,  for 
the  reason  that  in  Alabama  the  great  masses  of  quartzite 
do  not  occur  at  the  base  of  the  shales,  nor  apparently,  at 
any  definite  horion  in  the  same,  we  have  not  used  Professor 
Safford's  name  Chilhowee  to  desi^jnate  the  rock.  Similarly 
it  appears  necessary  to  adopt  a  distinct  name  for  the  thin- 
bedded  limestones  with  clay  seams,  of  our  "Flatvvoods," 
since  they  play  a  very  subordinate  part  if  they  occur  at  all 
in  Tennessee  As  above  intimated,  the  Weisner  Quartzite 
makes  no  show  in  any  of  the  region  covered  by  this  map, 
and  it  is  mentioned  here  only  to  give  completeness  to  our 
enumeration  of  the  Cambrian  rocks. 

THE  SILURIAN.— We  have  not  yet  in  Alabama  found  it 
practicable  to  arrange  our  Silurian  strata  in  m'ore  than  three 
principal  divisions,  which,  beginning  at  the  lowest  and  com- 
ing upwards,  are  as  follows :  Knox  Dolomite,  Trenton  or 
Pelham  Limestone,  and  Red  Mountain  or  Clinton. 

Knox  Dolomite. — This  name  has  been  given  by  Dr.  Saf- 
ford  to  a  series  of  rocks  occurring  in  the  vicinity  of  Knox- 
ville,  Tennessee,  and,  inasmuch  as  the  rocks  of  this  horizon 
in  Alabama  are  identical  with  those  described  by  him,  we 
have  retained  the  name  in  the  Alabama  Survey.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  important  and  widely  spread  of  our  older 
geological  formations  and  its  characteristic  rocks  are  magne- 
sian  limestones  or  dolomites,  sometimes  quite  pure,  but 
more  often  impregnated  with  siliceous  matter.  This  sili- 
oeous  matter  is  sometimes  found  asasandy  impurity  in  some 
of  the  dolomites,  upon  the  weathering  of  which  it  becomes 
q[uite  prominent.  For  this  reason,  many  of  the  dolomite 
beds  of  the  lower  part  of  the  Knox  Dolomite,  when  exposed 
to  the  weather,  show  a  rough  sandy  surface,  marked  by  shal- 
low cracks  running  in  every  direction  as  if  the  rock  had  been 
kacked  with  some  cutting  instrument.  These  purer  and 
sandy  dolomites,  together  with  some  beds  of  tolerably  pure 


YALLEY  BEGION  ;   CHARACTERS  OF  THE  ROCKS.  151 

blue  limestone,  occur  near  the  base  of  the  Knox  Doloirito, 
and  are  very  closely  related  to  similar  beds  of  the  S'lale  di- 
vision already  described.  On  the  other  hand,  t'^e  siliceous 
matter  in  the  upper  part  of  the  formation  is  usually  fornd 
in  masses  of  chert  of  coueretiouary  orij^in  imprej>uating  the 
dolomite,  and  on  the  bieakiug  down  of  these  rocks  uider 
the  action  of  the  weather,  the  calcareous  paits  aie  leached 
out  while  the  siliceous  parts  rema'.a  usually  in  tie  form  of 
angular  flinty  gravel,  which  forms  the  very  characteristic 
ridges  of  the  Knox  Dolomite.  In  the  region  covered  by  this 
map,  we  have  found  it  convenient  to  distinguish  the  area 
underlaid  by  the  lower  and  moie  calcareous  part  of  the 
formation  and  that  formed  by  the  upper  or  more  siliceous 
part.  In  the  former,  the  weathering  of  the  limestones  and 
dolomites  has  given  rise  to  the  formation  ©f  gentry  uudulat- 
ing  terranes  with  a  deep  red-colo^'ed  sandy  loam  soil  of 
more  than  average  fertility,  which  is  the  base  of  the  best 
farming  lauds  in  all  these  valleys.  The  red  lands  about 
Elyton,  and  in  parts  of  Birmingham,  aud  in  the  Alexandria 
Valley  across  the  Coosa,  are  good  examples.  In  the  upper 
part  of  the  Dolomite  the  cherty  or  siliceous  matter  is  more 
abundant  as  a  surlace  material  than  the  calcareous,  and  the 
country  is  broken  or  ridgy,  rather  than  undulating.  Some 
of  these  flint  ridges  extend  for  long  distances  unbroken. 
Good  examples  are  the  ridges  of  the  North  and  South  High- 
lands about  Birmingham.  In  fact  this  angular  cherty  gravel 
is  foand  upon  all  the  lands  made  by  the  Kaox  Dolomite, 
but  is  much  more  abundant  and  characteristic  in  the  upper 
part.  The  Knox  Dolomite  contains  very  few  fossils,  and 
these  belong  to  the  Lower  Silurian  horizon  of  the  paleon- 
tologists, but  we  have  in  the  chert  itself  a  characteristic  by 
which  we  can  as  a  rule  distinguish  it  from  the  chert  of  other 
formations,  that  is,  we  find  in  most  of  it  small  angular  cavi- 
ties of  clearly  defined  shape  which  are  usually  thought  to 
mark  the  places  once  occupied  by  rhombohedral  crystals  of 
dolomite,  subsequently  dissolved  out.  Prof.  Safford  was 
the  first  to  call  attention  to  this  mark.wbich  we  have  found 
to  be  an  extremely  useful  one.  The  Knox  Dolomite  as  well 
as  the  upper  part  of  the  underlying  formation  seems  to  have 
held  originally  much  ferruginous  as  well  as  siliceous  matter, 


152  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

and  we  find  throughout  the  region  formed  both  by  the 
Dolomite  and  the  upper  part  of  the  Shale,  beds  of  the  brown 
^ron  ore  or  limonite,  which  plays  so  important  a  part  in  the 
economic  history  of  all  this  region.  The  iron  ore  seems  to 
have  been  derived  from  these  older  rocks.  As  instances  of 
the  occurrence  of  limonite  banks  connected  with  the  Dolo- 
mite and  Shale,  I  may  mention  the  Edwards  Ore  Bank  near 
Woodstock,  the  mines  at  Greely  and  Goethite,  in  Jones' 
Valley,  and  the  great  beds  at  Shelby  over  the  Coosa.  The 
great  bulk  of  the  brown  ores  of  Alabama  is  from  this 
horizon. 

At  the  top  of  the  Knox  Dolomite,  and  belonging  perhaps 
to  the  next  succeeding  division,  there  is  a  rather  peculiar 
rock  occurring  at  intervals  along  Jones'  Valley  and  else- 
where. It  is  a  breccia  made  up  of  angular  fragments,  chiefly 
of  the  chert  of  the  Knox  Dolomite,  cemented  together  into 
a  rock  which  is  a  good  many  feet  in  thickness.  This  rock^ 
being  made  of  fragments  of  the  Knox  Dolomite,  is  of  course 
younger,  though  on  account  of  its  materials  we  have  usually 
classed  it  along  with  the  Knox  Dolomite.  It  is  seen  in 
greatest  volume  in  the  Salem  Hills  southwest  of  Bessemer^ 
but  occurs  upon  the  Flint  ridge  forming  the  North  High- 
lands at  many  pionts,  e.  g.  Birmingham  and  Gate  City,  and 
also  west  of  Springville.  It  has  been  called  the  Birmitig- 
ham  breccia  by  Mr.  Kussell  of  the  United  States  Survey, 
and  Salem  breccia  by  us  in  the  State  Survey.  It  is  of  in- 
terest as  showing  that  a  period  of  disturbance  intervened 
between  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  Knox  Dolomite 
and  that  of  the  Trenton  Limestone.  We  have  not  attempted 
to  shoiv  on  the  map  the  occurrences  of  this  rock, 

Trenton  or  Pelham  Limestone. — As  its  name  implies,  this 
division  is  mostly  calcareous.  It  may  be  perhaps  as  a 
maximum,  800  feet  or  more  in  thickness,  and  varies  con- 
siderably in  quality,  the  lower  part  being  ususally  impure 
and  shaly,  while  the  upper  part  is  mostly  a  pure  limestone, 
often  used  for  the  purpose  of  making  lime  and  as  a  flux  in 
the  furnaces.  The  lower  part  commonly  holds  great  number 
of  shells  of  Maclurea  magna,  which  is  a  characteristic  fossil 
of  the  Chazy  limestone  of  the  New  York  Geologists.  The 
purer  limestone  above,  is  also  quite  full  of  fossils,  which,  as 


VALLEY  EEGION  ;   CHARACTERS   OF  THE   ROCKS.  153 

a  group,  are  those  of  the  Trenton  limestone  of  New  York. 

In  places,  particularly  in  the  region  south  of  the  Cahaba 
Field  in  Bibb  county,  the  uppermost  beds  of  this  formation, 
above  the  purer  limestone  mentioned,  are  calcareous  shales 
and  shaly  limestones,  often  full  of  the  fossil  forms  known  as 
graptolites.  Where  these  thin-bedded  shaly  limestones  oc- 
cur abundantly  forming  the  surface,  cedar  glades  are  quite 
characteristic. 

The  valley  between  the  Cahaba  and  the  Coosa  Coal 
Fields  shows  a  wide  belt  of  Trenton  limestone,  which 
is  particularly  pure  and  well  developed  near  Pelham  and 
Siluria  in  Shelby  county,  and  southwards.  Near  Pratt's 
Ferry  on  the  Cahaba,  and  stretching  thence  northeastward 
there  is  another  great  belt  of  it,  containing  some  fine  mar- 
bles, which  have  in  a  small  degree  been  worked  at  Pratt's 
Ferry. 

For  the  sake  of  completeness,  I  might  add  that  the  phase 
of  the  Silurian  formation  to  which  Prof.  Safford  in  Ten- 
nessee has  applied  the  name  of  Nashville,  has  its  represen- 
tative in  Alabama  though  not  within  the  area  shown  on  this 
map. 

The  Clinton  or  Red  Mountain  Formation. — This  is  the  third 
and  uppermost  of  the  divisions  of  the  Silurian  which  we 
make  in  this  State.  The  mass  of  the  rocks  of  the  Red 
Mountain  are  sandstones  and  shales,  which  show  a  great 
variety  of  color,  yellow,  red,  brown,  chocolate,  and  olive 
green,  in  this  respect  resembling  the  Montevallo  Shales. 
Along  with  these  are  some  calcareous  and  ferruginous  rocks, 
the  latter  passing  into  beds  of  red  iron  ore,  made  up  of 
small  flattened  nodules,  sheU  casts,  etc.,  of  ferric  oxide. 
In  many  places,  where  mining  has  penetrated  the  ore 
bed  beyond  the  reach  of  atmospheric  agencies,  the  ore 
is  seen  to  be  quite  calcareous  ;  in  fact,  a  kind  of  highly 
ferruginous  limestone,  which,  when  used  in  the  furnace, 
often  contains  lime  enough  to  flax  the  ore.  At  the  out- 
crop the  ore  is  seldom  calcareous,  though  often  sandy. 
So  far  as  I  know  there  has  been  no  very  satisfactory  expla- 
nation of  the  mode  of  formation  of  this  ore.  It  is  of  very 
variable  thickness  up  to  twenty  feet,  and  is  in  more  than  one 
bed.     It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  while  near  Oxmoor  the 


154  GEOLOGICAL  SURYEY  OJ   ALABAMA. 

ore  is  some  twenty  feet  in  thickness,  jnst  across  the  Cahaba 
Coal  Field  in  the  Cahaba  Valley  about  sis  miles  distant,  the 
Ked  Mountain,  or  rather  its  representative,  contains  no  ore 
at  all  in  the  greater  part  of  its  length,  nor  does  it  seem  to 
contain  any  of  the  Clinton  rocks.  As  is  well  known  this 
formation  furnishes  the  greater  part  of  the  material  used  in 
our  furnaces.  In  places,  the  ferruginous  limestone  of  this 
formation  would  make  a  fine  building  stone,  and  the  same 
is  true  of  the  sandstones.  It  would  be  difficult  to  give  the 
average  thickness  of  the  Red  Mountain  vocks  proper,  in  the 
region  of  the  present  map;  100  feet  might  perhaps  be  a  fair 
average,  for  the  Red  Mountain  as  a  topographic  feature,  is 
made  up  of  the  rocks  of  different  ages,  Trenton,  Clinton  and 
Sub-Carboniferous,  together  with  the  usually  very  thin  black 
shale  of  the  Devonian. 

The  thickness  of  the  whole  Silurian  in  this  part  of  the 
State  given  above  as  about  5,000  feet,  is  only  an  estimate. 
The  true  thickness  it  will  be  very  difficult  to  determine, 
especially  in  the  case  of  the  most  irapf>itanfc  member,  the 
Knox  Dolomite,  since  it  is  in  great  part  made  up,  so  far  as 
surface  materials  are  concerned,  of  loose  fragments  of  chert 
in  which  the  bedding  planes  are  seldom  to  be  seen.  A 
greater  part  of  the  area  of  our  valleys  is  held  by  this  forma- 
tion than  by  any  other,  and  its  importance  is  still  further 
enhanced  by  the  fact  that  it  is  the  chief  source  of  the  brown 
iron  ores  of  the  State.  Many  of  the  noted  big  springs  issue 
from  this  formation. 

THE  DEVONIAN.— The  only  representative  in  Alabama 
of  this  system  of  rocks,  which  in  the  States  further  uortli  is 
of  great  thickness  and  importance,  is  a  thin  bed  of  J>lacJe 
Shale,  averaging  perhaps  ten  or  fifteen  feet,  but  being  ap- 
parently absent  altogether  in  some  places.  A  few  fossils 
have  been  found  in  it  in  the  Valley  of  the  Tennessee  in  North 
Alabama,  which  serve  to  fix  its  position  as  a  member  of  the 
Devonian.  The  shale  being  soft  and  somewhat  easily 
eroded,  is  usually  covered  aud  concealed  by  the  debris  of 
the  adjacent  rocks,  so  that  it  does  not  commonly  come  under 
notice  even  where  it  is  present.  It  is  of  importance  chiefly, 
perhaps,  as  beiog  the  source  of  some  of  our  best  known 
sulphur  springs.     The  shale  usually  contains  a  large  amount 


VALLEY  region;  CHARACTERS  OF  THE   R0CK3.  155 

of  pyrite  in  tJie  form  of  nodules  or  kidney-shaped  concre- 
tions, llie  decomposition  of  which  supplies  the  sulphur  of 
these  spriiif^s.  In  North  Alabama  the  thickness  of  the 
Black  Shale  may  go  up  as  high  as  100  feet,  but  so  extremo 
a  thickness  is  rarely  seen  further  south. 

THE  CAIIBONIFEEOUS.— This  we  conveniently  divide 
in  Alabama  into  two  parts,  a  lower,  or  Sub-CarboniferouSf 
and  an  upper  or  coal  bearing  part,  the  true  Coal  Pleasures, 
The  thickness  of  the  latter  is  placed  by  Mr.  Squire  at  5525 
feet,  and  tlie  former  at  1,200,  making  a  total  of  between  6,000 
and  7,000  feet. 

Sub-Carhoniferous. — Prof.  Safford  divides  this  formation 
in  Tennessee  into  an  Upper  or  Calcareous  member,  and  a 
Lower  or  Siliceous  one.  This  division  will  also  apply 
equally  well  to  that  part  of  Alabama  north  of  the  Tennessee 
river,  but  to  the  south,  and  everywhere  in  the  narrow  anti- 
clinal valleys  of  the  State,  this  division  will  not  suit,  and 
we  are  compelled  to  make  a  different  one.  Like  Prof.  Saf- 
ford, however,  we  make  a  two-fold  division,  the  Fort  Payne 
Chert  below,  and  the  Oxmoor  Sandstone  and  Shales,  and  the 
Bangor  Limestone  above,  roughly  corresponding  to  the 
divisions  of  Prof.  Safford,  with  the  differences  below 
specified. 

In  the  Tennessee  Valley,  the  siliceous  member  of  the 
Sub-Carboniferous  consists  of  a  great  series  of  cherty  lime- 
stones somewhat  analogous  to  the  Knox  Dolomite,  but  with 
the  lower  part  more  cherty  than  the  upper.  This  lower 
part  gives  rise  to  ratber  poor  siliceous  soils,  and  the  region 
of  its  oecurrence  both  in  Alabama  and  Tennessee  is  known 
as  the  "Barrens" ;  the  upper  part  of  the  Siliceous  member 
is  more  calcareous  and  the  soil  derived  from  its  disintegra- 
tion is  a  red  loam  of  more  than  ordinary  fertility,  well  known 
in  the  Tennessee  Valley  as  making  the  best  farming  landi 
of  that  section.  Here  again  there  is  an  analogy  to  the  Knox 
Dolomite,  which  affords  on  the  one  hand  rich  red  loam  soils, 
and  on  the  other  poor  cherty  ridges. 

The  chert  of  the  Sub-Carboniferous  is  in  general  very 
similar  to  that  of  the  Knox  Dolomite,  but  differs  from  it  in 
being  usually  very  highly  fossiliferous,  containing  the  casts 
or  moulds  of  shells  that  have  been  leached  or  dissolved  out. 


156  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY   OF   AT.ARAMA. 

This  character  of  the  Sub-Carboniferous  chert,  and  the 
presence  of  the  rhombohedral  cavities  in  the  chert  of  Knox 
Dolomite  enable  us  in  almost  every  case  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  two. 

Now,  in  the  anticlinal  valleys  south  of  the  Tennessee 
river  we  find  it  impossible  to  carry  out  this  two-fold  division 
of  the  lower  or  Siliceous  member  of  the  Sub-Carboniferous, 
for  the  entire  member  shows,  upon  the  surface  at  least,  little 
else  than  chert,  which  appears  in  a  mantle  of  angular  frag- 
ments, coveriog  usually  one  side  of  all  our  Red  Mountain 
ridges,  a 

We  have  called  this  the  Fort  Payne  Chert,  and  it  is  prob- 
ably the  representative  of  both  the  subdivisions  of  the  lower 
Sub-Carboniferous  or  Siliceous  group,  of  North  Alabama 
and  Tennessee,  as  long  ago  conjectured  by  Prof.  Safford. 
Its  thickness  is  not  very  great  as  compared  with  that  of  the 
upper  member. 

The  Upper  Calcareous  member  is  variable  in  composition. 
In  North  Alabama  it  is  chiefly  a  limestone  called  Mountain 
Limes'one,  from  the  fact  that  it  forms  the  flanks  of  most  of 
the  mountains  in  that  section  that  are  capped  with  the  Coal 
Measures,  h 

Within  this  limestone  there  is  interbedded  a  layer  of 
sandstone  of  variable  thickness,  perhaps  100  feet  at  a  maxi- 
mum in  the  Tennessee  Valley,  while  the  over  and  underly- 
ing limestones  are  many  times  that.  As  we  come  southward, 
the  sandstone  becomes  more  important,  and  the  lower  sec- 
tion of  the  limestone  appears  to  give  way  to,  or  to  be  re- 
placed by,  a  series  of  black  shales  closely  resembling  those 
of  the  Devonian  but  many  times  more  massive.  In  many 
places  in  the  anticlinal  valleys,  and  especially  the  further 
south  we  go,  the  upper  limestone  also  appears  to  be  want- 
ing or  to  be  replaced  by  the  shales  and  sandstones  above 
named.     The  limestone  which  comes  next  below  the  Coal 

a  We  have  already  adverted  to  the  fact  that  these  Red  Mountain 
ridges  are  formed  of  the  Clinton,  the  Black  Shale  and  the  Sub-Carboni- 
ferous chert,  and  the  same  structure  has  been  mentioned  by  Safford  as 
characterizing  the  Dye  Stone  ridges  of  Tennessee. 

6  The  name,  however,  comes  from  Europe,  where  it  appears.in  similar 
relations  to  the  Coal  Measures. 


VALLEY  REGION;   CHARACTERS   OF  THE   ROCKS.  157 

Measures  is  well  exposed  at  many  places  as  at  Bangor, 
Blount  Springs,  and  Trussville,  where  it  is  very  extensively 
quarried  for  use  as  a  fluxing  material  in  the  furnaces,  as  it 
is  in  part  a  very  pure  limestone,  but  south  of  the  latitude  of 
Birmingham  it  is  very  rarely  seen,  and  in  its  stead  we  find 
the  black  shales  mentioned.  These  shales  are  often  inter- 
stratified  with  dark  colored  limestones  and  sometimes  with 
tolerably  pure  limestones,  but  these  are  unimportant  in 
thickness  as  compared  with  the  shales  and  sandstones. 
The  greater  part  of  Shades  Valley  is  based  upon  these 
sandstones  and  shales,  though  the  limestone  appears  in 
several  places. 

The  sandstone  which  in  North  Alabama  lies  between 
the  two  beds  of  Mountain  Limestone,  has  a  very 
close  resemblance  in  texture  and  other  characters  to  the 
lowermost  rocks  of  the  Coal  Measures  commonly  called  the 
Millstone  grit,  and  it  makes  its  appearance  in  that  part  of 
the  State  either  as  a  bench  along  the  sides  of  the  Cumber- 
land Mountain  spurs,  or  else  as  the  capping  and  protecting 
rock  of  a  detached  ridge  separated  from  the  Sand  Mountain 
(Coal  Measures),  by  a  narrow  valley  of  erosion.  In  the  anti- 
clinal valleys  further  south,  this  sandstone  with  the  litholo- 
gical  characters  above  named,  appears  commonly  as  a 
distinct  ridge  running  parallel  to  the  escarpment  of  the  Coal 
Measures,  with  a  narrow  valley  of  shales  between.  It  ap- 
pears to  best  advantage  on  one  of  the  detached  ridges  above 
spoken  of,  near  Tuscumbia,  at  the  site  of  the  old  college 
town  of  Lagrange,  and  we  have  often  used  the  name 
Lagrange  Sandstone  to  designate  it;  but  the  name  Lagrange 
has  been  used  to  denote  an  entirely  different  formation 
which  has  caused  us  to  replace  it  by  the  name  Oxmoor, 
where  the  rocks  are  also  well  exposed,  and  where  the  shales 
are  more  conspicuous  than  at  Lagrange. 

Coal  Measures. — Of  these  rocks  it  does  not  seem  necessary 
to  speak  in  detail,  since  Mr.  Squire  has  described  the  Coal 
Measures  of  the  Cahaba  Field,  and  since  the  measures  of  all 
the  Alabama  fields  were  probably  once  continuous,  the 
description  of  the  rocks  of  one  will  answer  for  all. 

CKETACEOUS. — In  the  lower  part  of  the  area  shown  in 
the  map  our  study  of  the  distribution  of  the  rocks  of  older 


158  GEOLOGICAL  SURTEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

formations  is  often  very  much  hindered  by  the  fact  that  they 
are  more  or  less  completely  covered  by  superficial  beds  of 
sand  and  clay  which  have  been  spread  over  them  after  they 
had  through  the  agencies  above  spoken  of,  been  carved  into 
topographic  forms  substantially  the  same  as  they  now  ex- 
hibit. The  materials  of  this  later  formation  are  often  dis- 
tinguished by  a  purple  or  dark  red  color,  the  sands  are 
mostly  yellow,  and  show  lines  of  cross-bedding,  the  gravels 
are  unevenly  distributed,  and  much  less  abundant  than  the 
sands.  The  clays  as  well  as  the  sands  with  which  they  are  in- 
ter stratified,  are  more  particularly  characterized  by  the  pur- 
ple color  mentioned,  but  there  are  many  beds  of  the  clay  that 
are  light  gray  and  white.  In  a  few  places  these  clays  are 
utilized  for  making  refractory  bricks,  and  the  better  grades 
of  pottery,  as  at  Woodstock,  Bibbville,  and  Tuscaloosa^ 
With  careful  selection  and  manipulation,  there  is  hardly  - 
doubt  that  these  clays  will  be  found  suitable  for  all  the  uses 
to  which  the  New  Jersey  clays  are  put,  since  they  are  es- 
sentially similar  and  belong  to  the  very  same  geological 
formation.  The  formation  contains  a  good  deal  of  iron, 
which  appears  in  the  form  of  sandy  and  aluminous  ores 
with  25  to  35  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron,  usually  scattered 
over  the  summits  and  along  the  slopes  of  the  low  hills  of 
this  region.  The  per  cent,  of  iron  is  as  a  rule  too  low,  and 
that  of  the  silica  too  high  to  permit  of  these  ores  being 
used  while  we  have  such  an  abundance  of  ores  of  better 
grade. 

POST  TERTIAEY.— Over  the  greater  part  of  the  State, 
except  perhaps  the  extreme  northeast,  we  find  surface  beds 
of  very  similar  materials  to  those  just  described  overlying 
the  older  formations.  From  about  the  limits  marked  on  the 
map  for  the  Tuscaloosa  beds  to  the  extreme  border  of  the 
State  towards  the  south  west  ward,  we  find  these  later  beds 
occupying  the  surface,  often  to  the  extent  of  completely 
hiding  the  older  rocks  below,  and  forming  the  great  bulk  of 
the  cultivated  soils  from  the  latitude  of  Tuscaloosa  down . 
The  distribution  of  these  later  beds  within  the  limits  of 
this  map  may  be  considered  the  same  as  that  shown  for  the 
Tuscaloosa,  and  indeed  where  one  is  present  the  otherjis 
also  in  most  cases,  the  Tuscaloosa  below,  the  Orange  Sand, 


VALLEY  REGION  ;  DI8TEIBUTI0N  OF  THE  ROCKS.  159 

as  it  bas  been  called,  above.  Until  a  few  years  ago,  they 
were  uuiver.Hally  confounded  or  at  least  not  distinguished 
from  each  other,  and  the  whole  of  these  surface  beds  were 
thonght  to  be  Post-Tertiary,  a  confusion  that  very  naturally 
followed  from  the  great  similarity  not  only  of  the  material 
but  of  the  mode  of  distribution,  and  the  stratigraphy.  In  for- 
mer reports  we  have  called  these  Drift  beds,  but  it  seems 
bestto  employ  the  name  originally  used  by  Dr.  Hilgard  to 
designate  them,  viz.,  Orange  Sand. 

In  his  report  Mr.  Squire  speaks  of  the  Drift  beds  which 
cover  so  much  of  the  Coal  Measures  of  the  Cahaba  Field  in 
its  lower  part.  These  covering  beds  are  in  reality  both 
Drift  or  Orange  Sand,  and  Tuscaloosa. 

In  the  coloring  of  the  map  it  has  not  been  attempted  to 
show  the  Orange  Sand,  since  its  distribution  is  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  identical  with  that  of  the  Tuscaloosa  formation. 


III.    DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  ROCKS  OF  THE  DIF- 
FERENT GEOLOGICAL  FORMATIONS 
IN  THE  VALLEYS  BORDERING 
THE  CAHABA  COAL  FIELD. 

In  the  preceding  pages  we  have  endeavored  to  describe 
in  a  general  way,  the  foldings,  fractures,  and  displacements 
which  the  great  rock  masses  of  the  Appalachian  region  have 
sustained  through  the  action  of  the  lateral  pressure  to  which 
thoy  have  been  subjected.  This  was  done  for  the  reason 
that,  without  some  knowledge  of  the  main  types  of  geological 
structure  prevailing  in  this  region,  it  would  be  impossible 
to  account  for  the  present  distribution  and  attitude  of  rocks 
of  the  different  geological  formations  which  appear  in  the 
two  valleys  which  we  shall  attempt  to  describe. 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  fact  that  with  the  flexing 
of  the  strata  the  crests  of  the  arches,  being  lines  of  greatest 
strain  were  weakened,  and  fractured,  and  thus  more  easily 
wasted  by  erosion,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that,  in  process 
of  time  through  the  action  of  denuding  forces,  valleys  should 
come  to  occupy  the  places  once  held  by  these  arches.  It  is 
also  plain  that  when  the  crests  of  these  arches  have  been 
carried  away  by  erosion,  the   remnants   of  the   strata  com- 


160  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

posing  them  will  be  exposed  in  the  valleys  in  parallel 
bands,  the  oldest  formation  in  the  central  part  or  axis  of 
the  valley,  while  on  each  side  of  this  axis,  and  dipping  or 
sloping  away  from  it  in  opposite  directions  (anticlinal),  will 
occur  in  regular  succession,  the  newer  formations  up  to  the 
highest.  Thus,  beginning  with  the  Coal  Measures  on,  say, 
the  northwest  side  of  such  a  valley  and  crossing  it  towards 
the  southeast,  we  should  pass  in  succession  over  the  strata, 
all  dipping  to  the  northwest,  of  the  Suh- Carboniferous 
Devonian  and  Silurian  to  the  Cambrian,  which,  as  the  lowest' 
of  the  geological  series,  would  occupy  the  central  area. 
Beyond  this  then  would  follow,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
axis  of  the  anticlinal,  the  same  formations,  only  in  the 
reverse  order,  and  dipping  towards  the  southeast;  thus 
Silurian,  Devonian,  Sub- Carboniferous,  to  the  Measures  of 
the  Coal  Field  on  that  side. 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  simple,  symmetrical,  anticlinal 
structure  is  rarely  seen  in  any  of  our  valleys,  the  nearest 
approach  to  it  in  the  region  here  treated  of  being  east  of  the 
Blount  Mountain,  and  east  of  McAshan  Mountain,  but  in 
both  these  cases  the  full  series  is  lacking  on  one  side  of  the 
anticlinal,  by  reason  of  a  second  fold  or  of  a  fault,  as  will 
be  seen  in  the  special  description  given  further  on. 

As  a  rule  we  find  a  prevalence  of  southeasterly  dips  even 
on  the  northwestern  side  of  the  anticlinals.  This  could 
come  about  only  by  the  overlap  of  the  fold  in  that  direction 
and  the  compressing  together  of  strata  so  that  they  all  dip 
the  same  way;  or  by  an  overlapped  fold  combined  with  a 
fault.  In  the  first  case  we  should  have  a  repetition  of  the 
strata  on  each  side  of  the  central  area,  while  in  the  other 
case  only  a  part  of  the  constituent  strata  of  the  anticlinal 
would  appear  on  one  side  of  the  anticlinal,  the  rest  being 
hidden  under  the  overthrust  measures  of  the  other  side.  A 
study  of  the  map  will  show  that  the  last  named  order  of 
things  prevails  in  the  great  majority  of  cases. 

Before  going  on  to  the  special  description  of  the  valleys, 
it  will  be  instructive  to  give  a  general  section  across  the 
whole  area  of  the  map  at  a  point  where  the  structure  is  seen 
in  its  simplest  form. 

The  accompanying  diagram  showing  a  cross  section  from 


VALLEY  REGION  ;  DISTRIBUTION   OF  THE  ROCKS.  161 

the  Warrior  to  the  Coosa  Coal  Field,  through  Birmingham, 
exhibits  the  main  types  of  geological  structure  occurring  in 
this  part  of  the  State,  with  the  exception  of  those  folds 
which  show  a  prevailing  dip  in  the  northwest  direction,  of 
which  mention  has  been  made  above,  and  which  will  be 
more  particularly  described  in  the  proper  place. 

It  must,  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  diagram  is 
not  intended  to  give  with  absolute  fidelity  the  section  across 
the  valley  along  a  particular  narrow  line,  but  is  rather  in- 
tended to  give  the  extremes  occurring  within  somewhat 
widely  separated  limits.  To  illustrate :  the  red  ore  of  the 
Clinton  formation  appears  in  Little  Oak  Mountain  "i"  in 
one  or  two  places  only,  in  the  Cahaba  Valley ;  and  still  less 
frequently,  or  rather  in  a  much  more  fragmentary  wav,  does 
it  appear  on  the  flint  ridge  "a"  west  of  Birmingham ;  to  the 
west  of  the  fault  beyond  Opossum  Valley  we  scarcely  ever 
see  so  full  a  series  as  here  shown  of  the  beds  between  the 
fault  and  the  Coal  Measures  in  the  vicinity  of  this  cross 
section,  though  it  appears  further  to  the  northeast  towards 
Murphree's  Valley.  Keeping  these  things  in  mind,  we 
shall  find  the  diagram  of  service. 

Beginning  on  the  right  hand  of  the  diagram  we  see  the 
Measures  forming  the  northwestern  border  of  the  Coosa 
Coal  Field  overlooking  with  a  steep  face  the  valley  to  the 
northwest,  the  strata  of  the  field  dipping  back  to  the  south- 
east. Going  thence  to  the  northwest  across  the  valley,  we 
pass  over  the  beds  of  the  Sub-Carboniferous,  Devonian, 
Trenton,  Knox  Dolomite,  and  Cambrian ;  all  dipping  south- 
east, and  all  forming  the  half  of  a  fold  or  anticlinal  uplift. 
But  next  beyond  the  Cambrian  we  come  to  the  strata  of  the 
Cahaba  Coal  Field,  with  a  vertical  dip,  and  in  immediate 
contact  with  the  Cambrian ;  an  association  of  strata  which 
could  come  only  from  a  break  and  sliding  of  the  beds  on  one 
side  of  the  break  upon  and  over  those  on  the  other  side. 
We  see  here  that  we  have  only  the  one  side  of  a  fold,  or  arch, 
and  that  a  break  has  occurred  along  the  crest  of  this  fold,  and 
the  southeastern  side  has  glided  up  over  the  northwestern 
side.  We  also  observe  that  the  beds  of  the  Coal  Measures 
adjacent  to  this  break  stand  at  a  vertical  angle,  as  a  result 
11 


162  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF   AT.ABAAfA. 

of  the  break  and  the  sliding  up  of  the  Cambrian  beds.  Be- 
yond this  point  the  strata  of  the  Cahaba  Field  soon  flatten 
down,  and  assume  a  dip  to  the  southeast,  these  southeast- 
erly dipping  beds  taken  together  with  the  vertical  ones  just 
mentioned,  constituting  a  synclinal  basin  with  its  axis  verv 
near  to  the  southeastern  edge.  The  coal  beds  occurring  in 
the  vertical  measures  are  undoubtedly  the  same  as  those 
occurring  in  the  flatter  measures  just  beyond,  but  we  have 
the  authority  of  Mr.  Squire  for  saying  that  it  is  in  most 
cases  impossible  to  correlate  the  seams  in  the  vertical 
measures  with  those  that  have  not  been  so  much  disturbed. 
It  is  evident  from  this  that  the  fault  has  broken  up  and  dis- 
placed these  coal  seams  so  that  they  do  not  now  occupy 
their  relative  positions  in  every  case.  As  we  cross  the 
Oahaba  Field  we  notice  that  the  strata,  with  local  exceptions, 
have  a  dip  to  the  southeast,  and  the  prevailing  dip  shows 
that  the  strata  are  gradually  rising  into  another  anticlinal 
fold  which  also  includes  all  the  underlying  formations  of 
Shades  Valley,  Ked  Mountain,  and  of  the  Birmingham 
Valley,  as  far  west  as  the  foot  of  the  flint  ridge  "a"  upon 
which  is  the  cemetery.  Here  occurs  another  fault  of  the 
same  nature  as  the  one  first  described,  except  that  the 
amount  of  the  displacement  is  not  by  any  means  so  great. 
At  the  eastern  foot  of  this  flint  ridge,  we  find  the  strata 
standing  in  many  places  nearly  vertical,  as  they  do  at 
the  eastern  edge  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field.  Along 
this  line  of  fault  the  Cambrian  of  the  valley  lies  in 
contact  with  the  strata  of  the  Knox  Dolomite  in  most 
places,  but  an  occasional  bed  of  limestone  and  numerous 
fragments  of  red  ore  containing  fossils  which  belong  to  the 
Clinton  fauna,  show  that  the  Trenton  and  the  Eed  Mountain 
or  Clinton  groups  of  the  upper  Silurian  formation  have  not 
been  entirely  removed  in  the  erosion  of  the  valley. 

Beyond  the  flint  ridge  just  mentioned,  we  come,  in  going 
westward,  again  to  the  Cambrian  strata,  which,  in  a  great 
measure,  form  the  underlying  beds  of  this  second  valley 
known  as  'Possum  Valley.  Across  it  we  come  to  a  third 
fault  which  brings  this  Cambrian  formation  in  contact  with 
overlying  beds,  such  as  Trenton,  Clinton,  Sub-Carbonifer- 
ous, and  Coal  Measures ;  for  the  fault  does  not  by  any  means 


SKCTION   N.W.  AND   S.K.  FROM  WARRIOR  TO  COOSA   CO.\L   KlKLl)    IN  THK  VICINITY  Ol-'    BIRMINGHAM 

(  near-lv  alone   line   K.F.  oP  map  ) 
showing  sli'uclui'c  oC  .Jones' Vallev-Caliaba  Coal  Field -CaJiaba  Vallev  and  pari  of  Coosa  Coal   Field 


iWan-iopCoal  I'ield'  ^^Opossum  ViJIr 


^Bl  <'«,il  Measurvs 

fevs  "-i  Oxmoop  SandsloiK-  aiid   Shales 

K^v.-:-l  Kossiliter<ius  C'hfH  i|-'.iiH'aviii 

F— ^  liluck  Shalt-  Dcvoiiiar, 

^H  lied  iVIutiiiUiiii  (' Union 

^^H  Tecntoii  l,iiiies(()ne 


.-%^- 


'"^       J 


Ked  Ml     slii.i,    i       \  dl. 


^W-        ^^^j^%^ 


III       I    I      I.I 


Siih-Cai-botiiCe 


HOKIZONTAI.   Sr.VLK      Vi 'l'»  IXCMI  TO  TlIK  MH.li   OR 

I    LNCII    =   70ifO    I'KKT 

VERTICAI.  SCAI.K    TWICK    TlIK    HOIil/ONTAI,  OH 

r    INCH  =  .i.M'O   I'KKT 


Cheil   Kidges   | 
Ked   l.iinds       I 


Doloinile 
C<K,saValle,v  uv  Klalwouds  slialv  linuslon<s  _  Cambi-iaii 


!                   Cuosa    Coid 

^iField 

a  _  Noplh  lUj^hlaiids-C. 

niiMe.;N-  Hid 

b  _  Biimin^luun- 

c  =  SouUi  Hid h lands 

d  =  Ked  Mountain 

e  -  Shades  Clock 

r  =  Shades  iMounlain 

d  _  Cahaba  Kivef 

h  _   Andeesori  Minuilain 

i    _   l-iUh-  Oak  Monnlain 

,j  _   I5iji,0nk    Sionnlnii. 

k  =    Double  .Monnlain 

I 


YALLEY  REGION  DETAILS  ;  OAHABA  VALLEY.  163 

run  strictly  parallel  to  the  strike  or  outcrop  of  the  rocks, 
but  runs  in  a  sinuous  line  now  into  the  very  edge  of  the  Coal 
Measures,  now  out  into  the  valley  so  as  to  leave  some  of  the 
strata  underlying  the  Coal  Measures  between  the  Cambrian 
and  the  Warrior  Field.  As  in  the  preceding  cases,  the  beds 
immediately  to  the  northwest  of  the  fault  usually  stand  at  a 
high  angle,  sometimes  vertical,  while  in  places  they  hare 
been  pushed  even  past  the  vertical  so  as  to  be  reversed. 

On  the  northwestern  side  of  the  valley  nearly  its  whole 
length,  we  find  the  first  beds  of  the  Warrior  Coal  Field,  in 
this  nearly  vertical  position,  making  a  rock  wall,  through 
which  the  streams  have  cut  their  way  at  a  few  points,  by 
deep  and  narrow  gorges. 

In  cases  where  the  strata  bordering  a  fault  are  tilted  up 
at  these  very  high  angles,  it  rarely  happens  that  the  full 
thickness  of  the  beds  concerned  is  present,  but  some  are 
pinched  out  almost  completely,  others  appear  in  full  force, 
while  still  others  are  seen  in  exceptional  thickness.  Where 
beds  of  coal  are  among  the  strata,  the  thickness  is  nearly 
always  found  to  be  extremely  variable,  the  beds  thinning 
down  to  a  few  inches  and  thickening  up  to  several  feet 
within  a  distance  of  a  few  yards. 

There  is  hardly  a  place  along  the  western  side  of  Jones' 
"Valley  where  these  irregularities  are  not  to  be  seen.  At 
North  Birmingham,  in  one  place,  the  Cambrian  of  the  valley 
is,  by  the  regalar  fault  on  that  side,  brought  in  contact  with 
the  upper  part  of  the  Knox  Dolomite.  Now  we  should 
expect  to  find  beyond  these  beds  of  Knox  Dolomite,  first  th© 
Trenton,  then  the  Clinton,  the  Black  Shale,  and  Sub-Car- 
boniferous, then  the  Measures  of  the  Warrior  Field ;  and 
very  often  such  a  succession  of  the  beds  does  actually  occur; 
but  at  the  point  named,  the  Knox  Dolomite  is  in  immediate 
contact  on  that  side  with  the  Coal  Measures,  the  interven- 
ing strata  above  enumerated,  having  been  pinched  out  or 
engulfed  in  a  second  fault. 

Cahaba  Valley. 

This  is  the  name  given  to  the  valley  which  separates  the 
Coosa  from  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field,  and  under  this  name  it 
extends  from  near  Odenville  to   Montevallo,  but  its  con- 


164  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

tinuation  may  be  followed  as  far  as  Centerville.  Like  most 
of  the  valleys  of  similar  nature  in  Alabama,  it  is  complex,  i.  e., 
made  up  of  one  or  more  subordinated  valleys  with  ridges  be- 
tween them.  One  of  these  valleys,  lying  between  the  chert 
ridge  of  the  Knox  Dolomite  and  the  edge  of  the  Cahaba  Field, 
is  known  as  'Possum  Valley;  the  other  lying  between  the  chert 
of  Knox  Dolomite  and  Little  Oak  Mountain  is  in  the  Cahaba 
Yalley  proper.  In  the  Cahaba  Valley  (taken  in  its  widest 
•ense)  there  are  the  representatives  of  all  the  Paleozoic 
rocks  above  named,  from  Cambrian  to  the  Coal  Measures. 
Its  two  borders  are  made  by  the  rocks  of  the  Cahaba  Field 
on  the  one  side,  and  by  those  of  the  Coosa  on  the  other,  from 
its  upper  end  near  Odenville  down  to  Siluria,  while  beyond 
that  the  Sub-Carboniferous  beds  of  the  Coosa  Field  make 
its  southeastern  border,  since  the  Coal  Measures  of  that 
field  do  not  extend  further  south  than  the  place  named. 
Most  of  the  strata  in  this  valley  dip  towards  the  southeast 
at  varying  rates,  from  which  it  would  be  reasonably  inferred 
that  its  structure  is  that  of  an  anti-clinal  fold  closely  com- 
pressed and  pushed  over  towards  the  northwest,  or  of  an 
anticlinal  fold  and  thrust  fault  combined.  In  the  former 
case,  we  should,  in  crossing  the  valley,  pass  over  the  strata 
from  Coal  Measures  of  the  Coosa  Field  to  the  Cambrian  in 
succession,  beyond  which  should  follow  the  same  formations 
again,  only  in  reverse  order,  to  the  Measures  of  the  Cahaba 
Coal  Field. 

The  diagram  already  referred  to,  as  well  as  the  examina- 
tion of  the  map  will  show,  that  the  whole  valley  is  made  by 
one-half  of  a  fold  only,  and  the  succession  of  the  rocks  from 
the  Coosa  Field  is  as  follows  :  Coal  Measures,  Sub-Carboni- 
ferous, Black  Shale,  Trenton,  Chert  ridge  and  red  lands  of 
the  Knox  Dolomite  and  Cambrian,  immediately  following 
which  are  the  Measures  of  the  Cahaba  Field,  a  great  fault  in- 
tervening between  the  Cambrian  and  Coal  Measures.  By 
this  fault  the  Cambrian  strata  on  the  southeast  side  have 
been  pushed  up  and  over  the  upturned  edges  of  the  Cam- 
brian, Silurian,  Devonian,  and  Sub-Carboniferous  on  the 
northwest  side,  into  direct  contact  with  the  upper  measures 
of  the  Cahaba  Field,  a  displacement  of  perhaps  more  than 
10,000  feet  vertical,  and  greater  than  that  of  any  other  fault 


TALLEY  REGION  DETAILS;   CAHABA   VALLEY.  165 

known  to  us  in  Alabama.  Northwest  of  this  fault,  as  we 
have  already  intimated,  all  the  formations  between  the  Cam- 
brian and  the  Coal  Measures  are  below  the  surface  being 
engulfed  in  the  fault.  The  beds  of  the  Coal  Measures  next 
to  the  fault  are  very  highly  inclined,  standing  mostly  nearly 
in  vertical  position  while  sometimes  they  have  been  pushed 
over  beyond  the  perpendicular.  The  narrow  belt  of  vertical 
measures  borders  the  Cahaba  Field  along  its  entire  south- 
eastern and  southern  boundary.  We  should  naturally  ex- 
pect the  strata  in  these  vertical  measures  to  correspond 
with  those  that  have  not  been  disturbed  further  in  towards 
the  center  of  the  field,  since  they  are  only  the  upturned 
edges  of  the  same  beds  ;  but  Mr.  Squire  has  generally  been 
unable  to  identify  the  vertical  coal  seams,  for  the  reason 
that  in  the  faulting  the  strata  have  been  so  crushed  and  dis- 
placed that  the  seams  no  longer  retain  their  characteristic 
qualities,  thickness,  relative  position,  etc.,  some  of  the 
measures  having  been  pinched  out,  and  others  having  been 
correspondinly  thickend  up.  This,  in  general  terms,  is  the 
structure  of  the  valley  from  its  northern  limit  to  Siluria, 
and  even  down  to  Montevallo. 

In  more  detail,  its  topographical  and  geological  features 
are  as  follows  :  The  southeastern  rim  of  the  valley  is  made 
by  the  high  escarpment  of  the  Millstone  grit  of  the  Coosa 
Field  known  as  Big  Oak  Mountain.  This  ledge  of  rock  dips 
southeast  under  the  Coal  Measures  of  the  Coosa  Field,  but 
is  brought  to  the  surface  again  in  the  Double  Mountains,  by 
a  fault  that  extends  through  the  lower  part  of  the  field. 

Between  Big  Oak  Mountain  and  Little  Oak,  which  is 
formed  by  the  chert  of  the  Sub-Carboniferous  formation, 
there  is  a  valley  of  varying  width  formed  by  the  Oxmoor 
shales  of  the  same  formation.  The  sandstones  which  ac- 
company these  shales,  form  one  or  more  small  ridges  be- 
tween Little  and  Big  Oak  Mountains,  and  in  some  parts  of 
the  valley  this  sandstone  extends  a  good  way  up  the  face  of 
Big  Oak,  and  then  the  Millstone  grit  forms  only  the  capping 
of  the  mountain.  Little  Oak  is  the  counterpart  of  the  Red 
Mountain,  but  the  Clinton  strata  appear  to  be  entirely  want- 
ing except  in  two  or  three  places  shown  on  the  map. 

To  the  northwestward  of  Little   Oak   Mountain  comes  a 


166  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

ralley  underlaid  by  the  Trenton  or  Pelham  limestone, 
which  is  here  remarkably  well  developed,  and  extensively 
quarried  to  supply  the  lime  kilns  at  Siluria  and  Longvie\f. 
This  lime  is  the  well  known  Shelby  lime. 

Beyond  this  Trenton  limestone  valley,  which  is  the 
Cahaba  Valley  proper,  towards  the  northwest  comes  a  high 
ridge  formed  of  the  chert  of  Knox  Dolomite,  known  in  its 
different  parts  as  New  Hope  Mountain,  Mill  Kidge,  Pine 
Ridge,  and  Anderson  Mountain. 

Next  follows  a  valley  based  upon  calcareous  parts  of  the 
Knox  Dolomite  and  the  variegated  shales  of  the  Cambrian. 
This  has  the  name  of  'Possum  Valley,  and  as  we  approach 
its  northwestern  edge  we  find  the  strata  gradually  assuming 
a  steeper  dip  up  to  the  edge  of  the  great  fault  spoken  of 
above,  and  beyond  this  fault  are  the  vertical  measures  of  the 
Cahaba  Field.  It  may  be  noticed  here  as  almost  every- 
where else  that  the  dip  of  the  strata  on  the  southeast  side 
of  one  of  these  thrust  fault  is  usually  considerably  less  than 
on  the  northwestern  side,  where  they  frequently  stand 
nearly  vertical.  This  is  in  conformity  with  the  law  of 
structure  that  prevails  through  the  whole  Appalachian 
region,  viz.,  the  steeper  dip  is  on  the  northwestern  side  of 
the  folds  and  faults,  except  where  there  has  been  an  under- 
shoving  of  the  strata,  as  is  the  case  in  Murphree's  Valley. 
Beyond  the  fault,  the  measures  very  rapidly  flatten  down  to 
a  moderate  rate  of  dip,  which  is  mostly  towards  the  south- 
east, showing  that  taken  as  a  whole  this  upper  part  of  the 
Cahaba  Field  is  a  synclinal  basin,  the  axis  of  which  is  very 
close  to  its  southeastern  boundary.  The  southeastern  half 
of  this  synclinal  is  partly  engulfed  in  the  great  fault,  for 
there  is  usually  not  room  enough  between  the  axis  of  the 
■ynclinal  and  the  boundary  fault  for  the  whole  thickness  of 
the  Measures  to  come  in,  even  in  vertical  position. 

Southward  of  the  latitude  of  Siluria  the  coal-bearing 
measures  of  the  Coosa  Field  give  out,  but  the  underlying 
Sub-Carboniferous  strata  continue  as  far  as  the  limits  of 
ihis  map,  and  beyond  even,  till  they  are  completely  hidden 
below  the  Cretaceous  beds  of  the  Tuscaloosa  formation. 
This  southward  prolongation  of  the  Coosa  Field  is  made 
chiefly   by    the    Oxmoor    shales   and    sandstones,    which, 


VALLEY  REGION  DETAILS;   CAHABA  VALLEY.  167 

especially  the  former,  attain  very  considerable  thickness  and 
underlie  a  wide  area.  Beds  of  limestone  are  very  generally 
interstratified  with  these  shales. 

By  referring  to  the  map  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Cahaba 
Valley  in  its  upper  part  runs  nearly  northeast  and  south- 
west, but  below  Helena  it  turns  nearly  southward  to  Monte- 
vallo,  while  beyond  the  latter  point  the  edge  of  the  Cahaba 
Field  turns  nearly  west,  as  does  also  to  some  extent  the 
Sub-Carboniferous  border  of  the  valley  on  the  other  side. 
These  changes  in  the  direction  of  the  folds,  bring  about  com- 
plications of  the  structure,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  formation 
of  a  great  number  of  subordinate  basins  in  this  part  of  the 
Cahaba  Field  ;  in  the  faulted  and  overturned  measures  west 
of  Montevallo ;  in  the  faulting  and  duplication  of  the  Cam- 
brian and  Silurian  strata  in  the  valley  between  Montevallo 
and  Centerville ;  in  the  formation  of  a  synclinal  of  Trenton, 
Ked  Mountain,  Devonian  and  Sub-Carboniferous  strata  in 
the  vicinity  of  Pratt's  Ferry. 

The  uppermost  beds  exposed  in  this  synclinal  are  the 
Oxmoor  shales  which  are  seen  in  the  basin  of  the  "Moun- 
tain," which,  beginning  a  mile  below  Pratt's  Ferry,  extends 
in  V  shape  for  several  miles  towards  the  southwest.  The 
point  of  this  mountain  or  apex  of  the  V  overhangs  the  river- 
The  dip  of  the  northwest  side  is  moderate  towards  the  south- 
east, while  the  strata  on  the  southeast  side  are  almost  ver- 
tical, following  the  usual  law.  The  crest  of  the  mountain  is 
formed  by  the  Fort  Payne  Sub-Carboniferous  chert,  while 
upon  its  flanks  are  to  be  seen  the  underlying  rocks  down  to 
the  Trenton.  Below  the  chert  there  are  sandstones  and 
shales  that  we  have  referred  to  the  Clinton  or  Eed  Moun- 
tain, though  we  have  no  fossils  nor  any  of  the  red  iron  ore 
to  determine  the  matter,  a 

The  Trenton  rocks  underlying  this  Sub-Carboniferous 
basin  emerge  from  below  it,  both  towards  the  northeast  and 
to  the  southwest,  but  more  rapidly  in  the  last  named  direc- 
tion.    Towards  the  northeast  the  Trenton  belt  may  be  fol- 

a  Some  red  ore  which  occurs  a  mile  or  two  to  the  northwest  of  the 
"Mountain,"  appears  to  belong  to  a  bed  lying  between  the  uppermost 
of  the  Knox  Dolomite  and  the  lowermost  of  the  Trenton.  At  least 
such  is  its  position  at  one  locality  where  all  these  beds  may  be  clearly 
made  out,  and  their  ages  distinguished  by  the  fossils  which  they  hold. 


168         GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

lowed  for  a  considerable  distance,  gradually  merging  into  a 
fault  which  cuts  into  it  in  the  direction  of  Montevallo. 

One  of  the  most  important  results  of  this  disposition  of 
the  rocks  is  to  bring  to  the  surface  a  great  area  of  Trenton 
limestone  with  very  gentle  dip,  except  at  the  southeastern 
edge  of  the  basin,  all  along  the  river  for  several  miles  each 
way  from  Pratt's  Ferry.  Much  of  this  limestone  is  of  very 
great  purity,  and  is  capable  of  receiving  a  fine  polish,  and  it 
will  undoubtedly  very  soon  come  into  use  for  building  and 
ornamental  purposes. 

That  part  of  the  valiey  below  Montevallo  differs  slightly 
in  structure  from  the  upper  part.  Starting  at  the  Sub- 
Carboniferous  measures  which  here  form  its  southeastern 
border  we  pass  over  a  valley  of  Trenton  limestone,  then  over 
a  wide  area  of  Knox  Dolomite,  three  or  four  miles,  chiefly 
cherty  lands,  into  a  belt  about  a  mile  wide  of  the  Cambrian 
shales  of  the  Montevallo  type.  Then  comes  a  fault  by  which 
the  Knox  Dolomite  is  again  brought  to  the  surface.  This  nar- 
row belt  of  the  Knox  Dolomite  runs  out  entirely  in  township 
24,  range  11,  east,  but  at  the  base  of  the  map  in  township  24, 
range  10,  it  is  perhaps  half  a  mile  wide.  The  southeastern 
edge  of  this  belt  of  Knox  Dolomite  has  a  nearly  vertical 
position,  and,  together  with  part  of  the  Trenton,  forms  the 
edge  of  the  synclinal  above  named. 

In  the  upper  part  of  the  valley  down  to  about  the  upper 
line  of  township  22,  the  edge  of  the  coal  field  runs  approxi- 
mately parallel  to  the  strike  of  the  rocks  exposed  in  the 
valley,  but  below  the  point  named  this  is  not  the  case,  for 
the  strata  of  the  Montevallo  shales  that  are  in  contact  with 
the  vertical  measures  of  the  Cahaba  Field  through  township 
22,  and  the  upper  part  of  township  24,  have  a  strike  nearly 
northeast  and  southwest  while  the  edge  of  the  coal  field  runs 
nearly  north  and  south ;  the  Cambrian  strata  appear  to  run 
up  against  the  Coal  Measures  at  an  acute  angle ;  and  while 
the  border  of  the  Cahaba  Field  above  Montevallo  runs  nearly 
north  and  south,  changing  abruptly  at  Montevallo  to  nearly 
east  and  west,  the  strike  of  the  older  rocks  remains  ap- 
proximately the  same,  i.  e.,  nearly  northeast  and  southwest. 
At  the  apex  of  the  right  angle  formed  in  this  change  of  di- 
rection, a  little  southwest  of  Montevallo,  near  Thompson's 


7.  > 


-Si     — 

<     ■=. 

u   S 


VALLEY  REGION  DETAILS  ;  COOSA  COAL  FIELD.      169 

Mill  on  Shoal  Creek,  there  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
sections  known  to  me.  Here  may  be  seen  a  bed  of  coal 
three  or  four  feet  in  thickness,  in  nearly  horizontal  position, 
with  the  shaly  limestones  of  the  Montevallo  series  resting 
directly  upon  it.  The  accomyanying  view  from  a  photograph 
shows  this  very  clearly.  Mr.  Squire  has  shown  that  the 
Coal  Measures  along  this  part  of  the  field  have  been  over- 
turned, and  the  bottom  fireclay  is  in  every  case  on  top  of 
the  seam.  In  the  faulting,  therefore,  not  only  has  a  large 
strip  of  the  Coal  Measures  been  pushed  over,  but  the  Cam- 
brian strata  have  been  slipped  up  and  over  these  reversed 
beds. 

The  map  does  not  show  very  clearly  the  manner  in 
which  the  Cambrian  passes  around  the  apex  of  this  angle 
of  Coal  Measures,  for  in  reality  these  older  measures  seem 
to  lap  up  upon  the  angle  of  *.he  Coal  Field  in  a  series  of  great 
parallel  waves  like  breakers  upon  an  exposed  point  of  the 
shore.  These  waves  do  not  accommodate  themselves  to 
the  turn  in  the  boundary  of  the  Coal  Field  by  bending 
round,  as  might  be  inferred  from  the  arrangement  of  the 
colors  on  the  map,  but  they  keep  their  original  direction, 
(northeast  and  southwest),  on  the  two  sides  of  the  salient 
angle,  just  as  waves  pass  an  obstruction. 

All  along  the  Cahaba  Valley  and  its  extension  southward 
and  southwestward  of  Montevallo,  the  area  formed  by  the 
Knox  Dolomite  is  characterized  by  the  occurrence  of  beds 
of  brown  iron  ore  or  limonite  that  in  many  places  are  des- 
tined to  be  af  great  economic  value. 

For  lack  of  means  of  transportation,  only  one  furnace  has 
up  to  the  present  time  been  built  to  utilize  these  ores. 

Coosa  Coal  Field.  t 

The  structure  of  the  Coosa  Coal  Field  does  not  at  this 
time  particularly  concern  us,  but  the  portion  of  it  included 
in  the  map  shows  that  it  is  divided  into  two  parts  by  a  fault 
which  brings  up  some  of  the  Sub-Carboniferous  shales  be- 
tween the  two.  This  belt  of  shales  varies  in  width  from 
half  a  mile  upwards,  and  the  amount  of  displacement  is  not 
very  great,  since  it  extends  only  from  the  lower  part  of  the 
shales  up  to  the  Millstone  grit.  Mr.  McCalley's  report  will 
give  a  tolerably  full   account  of   the  structure  of  this  field. 


170  geological  survey  op  at.abava. 

Jones'  and  Eoup's  Valley. 

An  inspection  of  the  map  will  show  that  the  long  valley 
separating  the  Cahaba  from  the  Warrior  Coal  Field,  is  much 
more  complicated  in  its  structure  than  the  valley  between 
the  Coosa  and  Cahaba  Fields. 

Like  the  Cahaba  Valley,  this  has  essentially  an  anticlinal 
structure,  and  like  that  valley,  this  structure  is  somewhat 
masked  by  faulting ;  but  in  addition  to  this  we  can  trace  out 
in  every  part  of  this  valley,  two  anticlinal  folds  separated 
by  a  synclinal.  Almost  everywhere  in  the  valley  the  anti- 
clinal folds  have  been  pushed  over  towards  the  northwest  in 
accordance  with  the  general  law  of  Appalachian  structure, 
and  the  axes  of  the  folds  are  close  to  their  northwestern 
edges.  In  the  synclinal  we  find  its  axis  near  the  south- 
eastern edge,  as  is  the  case  in  the  upper  part  of  the  Cahaba 
Coal  Field. 

There  are  two  classes  of  exceptions  to  this  general  plan 
of  structure  noticed  in  Jones'  Valley.  First,  where  the  anti- 
clinal is  nearly  symmetrical,  and  the  strata  on  the  two  sides 
of  it  dip  in  opposite  directions  at  approximately  the  same 
angle.  One  instance  of  this  may  be  seen  in  the  valley  between 
McAshan  Mountain  and  East  Red  Mountain,  and  another  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  valley  west  of  Springville,  in  Clayton's 
Cove  and  northeastward ;  both  of  which  will  be  more  par- 
ticularly described  in  another  place.  In  these  cases  also 
the  crest  of  the  anticlinal  is  unbroken,  while  everywhere 
else  the  crests  are  marked  by  thrust  faults. 

The  second  class  of  exception  to  the  general  plan  of 
structure  is  seen  in  those  cases  where  the  strata  dip  towards 
the  northwest,  and  the  fault  is  found  along  the  southeastern 
•  border  of  the  arches,  making  what  we  have  spoken  of  above 
as  a  reversed  thrust  fault.  Two  well  marked  instances  of 
this  class  of  exception  occur  in  Jones'  Valley ;  one  being 
west  of  McAshan  Mountain,  the  other  being  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  region  of  the  present  map  ;  but  the  most 
important  instance  is  in  Murphree's  Valley,  a    The  case  of 

a  To  Mr.  A.  A.  Gibson  belongs  the  credit  of  first  calling  attention  to 
this  type  of  structure  in  Alabama.  In  his  report  on  Murphree's  Valley, 
now  in  manuscript  and  soon  to  be  published,  will  be  found  full  detaiU 
of  the  typical  locality. 


TATl.KY  REGION  DETAILS  ;   SHADES  VALLEY.  171 

McAshan  Mountain  will  be  considered  further  on,  but  we 
may  conveniently  now  describe  the  occurrence  in  township 
15,  range  1,  east,  along  the  northeastern  border  of  the 
valley.  Here,  not  far  from  the  line  of  the  A.  G.  S.  K.  K, 
there  is  a  fault  along  which  on  the  northwestern  side  the 
strata  of  the  Knox  Dolomite  with  moderate  northwesterly 
dip,  are  in  contact  with  the  strata  of  the  Sub-Carboniferous 
of  the  Cahaba  Field  on  the  southeast,  with  nearly  vertical 
position  or  with  very  high  southeasterly  dip. 

This  is  the  reverse  of  the  usual  order  of  things,  and  may 
be  explained  as  already  shown  upon  the  supposition,  that 
the  fold,  instead  of  having  had  its  crest  pushed  over  towards 
the  northwest,  has  had  the  trough  shoved  under  from  the 
southeast  side.  At  the  lower  end  of  this  fold  in  the  north- 
west corner  of  township  16,  range  1,  east,  its  anticlinal 
character  is  more  appai*ent.  Beyond  this  fold  to  the  north- 
west, we  see  a  synclinal  with  Sub-Carboniferous  chert  and 
Oxmoor  shales,  as  the  uppermost  beds,  and  this  is  followed 
in  the  same  direction  by  a  simple  anticlinal  and  then  by 
the  synclinal  of  Blount  Mountain  (Coal  Measures),  north- 
east part  of  township  15,  range  1,  west,  and  beyond  that  the 
anticlinal  of  Murphree's  Valley  not  shown  in  the  limits  of 
this  map.  Southwest  from  the  end  of  this  Blount  Mountain 
synclinal  of  the  Coal  Measures  we  see  the  underlying  beds 
gradually  coming  to  the  surface  in  the  order,  Sub-Carboni- 
ferous, Devonian,  Eed  Mountain,  Trenton,  and  Knox  Dolo- 
mite. The  upper  formations  involved  in  this  synclinal  from 
the  Sub-Carboniferous  to  the  Trenton,  do  not  extend  many 
miles  below  the  end  of  the  Blount  Mountain,  but  the  syncli- 
nal of  the  Knox  Dolomite  may  be  followed  down  nearly  to 
Bessemer.  It  makes  all  that  ridgy  land  between  Chalkville 
and  Hagood's  Cross  Roads,  the  flint  ridge  of  the  North 
Highlands  about  Birmingham,  and  its  continuation  down  to 
the  old  Smith  place  near  Bessemer.  Indeed,  with  certain 
modifications  it  may  be  followed  almost  the  entire  length  of 
this  map. 

From  Trussville  down  to  the  lower  end  of  Jefferson 
county,  in  the  southeast  part  of  township  20,  range  5,  west, 
the  feature  that  perhaps  most  strikes  the  eye  is  the  wide 
valley  based  on  the  upper  rocks  of   the  Sub-Carboniferous, 


172  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OP  ALABAMJL 

yiz.,  the  Oxmoor  shales  and  sandstones,  lying  between  the 
edge  of  the  Cahftba  Field  and  the  East  Red  Mountain. 
This  valley  is  in  great  part  drained  by  Shades  Creek  and  is 
known  as  Shades  Valley.  Its  abnormal  width  is  due  to  the 
undulations  in  the  strata,  since  the  Sub-Carboniferous  beds 
are  no  thicker  here  than  in  other  parts  of  this  valley  where 
the  width  is  much  less.  These  undulations  are  accompanied 
by  faults  in  some  parts  of  Shades  Valley,  as  for  instance  be- 
tween Oxmoor  and  Grace's  Gap,  but  these  displacements 
have  not  yet  been  traced  out  with  sufficient  detail  to  permit 
of  their  being  properly  mapped. 

Shades  Valley  is  diversified  by  long  ridges  formed  by  the 
sandstones  of  the  formation,  and  it  is  usual  to  find  a  very 
distinct  and  persistent  ridge  near  the  western  edge  of  the 
valley  formed  by  sandstones  that  occur  near  the  base  of  the 
formation.  Limestones  occur  in  these  shales,  as  has  been 
already  noted,  and  in  one  place  near  Oxmoor  this  rock  has 
been  quarried. 

The  next  following  topographic  feature  to  the  northwest 
of  Shades  Valley,  and  by  far  the  most  important  one  in  the 
region,  from  an  economic  standpoint,  is  the  Red  Mountain. 
In  the  lower  part  of  the  area  shown  on  the  map,  i.  e.,  below 
the  crossing  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Company's  railroad,  the 
Bed  Mountain  does  not  form  a  conspicuous  topographic 
feature,  as  it  is  rather  low  and  in  many  places  covered  by 
the  sands  and  other  beds  of  the  Tuscaloosa  formation. 
Above  the  point  named,  it  begins  to  assume,  at  least  in 
places,  the  dimensions  of  a  mountain,  and  so  it  continues 
with  constantly  increasing  height  and  importance  almost  to 
the  upper  limit  of  the  map.  I  shall  not  attempt  here  to 
speak  in  detail  of  the  variations  observed  in  the  strata  of 
Red  Mountain,  nor  to  give  sections  across  it,  since  the  re- 
port of  Mr.  McCalley,  soon  to  be  published,  will  fully  treat 
of  this  part  of  the  subject.  Most  of  the  mines  at  present  in 
operation  in  the  Red  Mountain  are  found  between  Spark's 
Gap  and  Trussville,  the  greatest  thickness  of  ore,  about 
twenty  feet,  being  about  the  middle  part  of  this  stretch  of 
the  mountain.  Above  Gate  City,  Red  Mountain  turns  some- 
what away  from  the  edge  of  the  Cahaba  Field,  and  the  re- 
versed anticlinal   above   spoken  of,   comes  in   between  the 


VALLEY  REGION  DETAILS;  SHADES  VALLEY.       173 

two,  and  by  this  a  synclinal  is  also  formed  in  the  Red 
Mountain  strata.  The  Red  Mountain  has  everywhere  along 
its  eastern  flank  a  covering  of  the  chert  of  the  Sub-Carboni- 
ferous, and  the  Black  Shale,  which  comes  between  the  Clin- 
ton and  the  Sub-Carboniferous,  while  not  always  to  be  seen 
on  account  of  its  being  very  thin  and  easily  eroded,  is  no 
doubt  present  in  the  majority  of  cases.  On  the  western 
face  of  the  Red  Mountain,  the  Trenton  limestone  may  al- 
ways be  seen,  sometimes  near  the  base  of  the  mountain, 
sometimes  nearer  the  top,  according  to  locality,  and  this 
rock  is  extensively  quarried,  notably  at  Gate  City,  where 
the  lim'=»stone  extends  up  to  the  very  top  of  the  mountain, 
and  the  Clinton  strata  are  all  on  the  eastern  flank  of  the 
same.  This  varying  position  of  the  Trenton  is  due  to  local 
causes,  among  which  the  occurrence  of  undulations  running 
across  the  valley  is  perhaps  the  most  effective. 

Next  to  the  Red  Mountain  with  its  constituent  formations, 
follows  the  Knox  Dolomite,  making  first  a  belt  of  ridgy 
lands,  seen  in  the  South  Highlands,  and  then  the  redlands 
with  their  gentle  undulations  and  characteristic  soils,  as 
may  be  seen  near  Elyton  and  in  some  parts  of  the  city  of 
Birmingham  itself.  It  is  rarely  that  the  strata  of  the  Knox 
Dolomite  appear  in  their  original  form  so  that  their  dip 
may  be  clearly  recognized.  Usually  the  formation  is 
represented  by  great  accumulations  of  loose  fragments 
of  chert,  or  by  the  red  loams  in  which  bedded  rocks 
are  rarely  found.  Loose  angular  fragments  of  chert 
imbedded  in  the  red  soil  are  however  very  common  and 
characteristic.  This  eastermost  belt  of  the  Knox  Dolomite 
rocks  presents  no  special  features.  In  the  lower  part  of  the 
map  it  is  in  great  measure  covered  by  the  Tuscaloosa  sands 
and  clays,  though  cropping  out  in  spots  over  a  pretty  wide 
area  here.  On  account  of  the  covering  of  these  surface 
materials  it  has  thus  far  been  impossible  to  make  out  with 
certainty  the  structure  of  all  this  lower  part  of  the  map. 

In  the  upper  part  of  the  region  covered  by  the  map,  we 
find  a  second  wide  and  apparently  continuous  outcropping 
of  the  Knox  Dolomite,  I  mean  above  Eastlake,  up  to  the 
end  of  the  Blount  Mountain.  This  is  due,  as  may  have  al- 
ready been  inferred  by  the  reader  of  the  preceding  para- 


174  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

graphs,  to  the  Blount  Mountain  synclinal  above  spoken  of, 
and  to  the  fact  that  the  fault  which  borders  this  synclinal 
on  the  eastern   side   extends  with  constantly   diminishing 
amount  of  displacement,  only  a  short  distance  beyond  East- 
lake,  where  it  gradually  passes  into  the   unbroken  or  un- 
faulted  anticlinal  of  Clayton's  Cove.     In  this  way  the  Knox 
Dolomite  of  both  anticlinal  and  synclinal  are  brought  into 
juxtaposition,  while  further  to  the  south,  where  the  amount 
of  displacement  in  the  fault  is  greater,  the  two  are  separated 
by  the  belt  of   Cambrian   Shales  presently  to  be  spoken  of. 
Next  to  the  Knox   Dolomite,  going  still  across  the  valley, 
we  come  to  the   Cambrian   formation,  here   represented  by 
the  Coosa   Shales,  a  series  of   thin-bedded  limestones  with 
clay  partings  that  make  level,  flat,  badly  drained  lands  with 
heavy  impervious   clay   soils,  commonly  known   as   "Flat- 
woods."     The  flatwoods  limestones  are  usually  very  much 
folded  and  contorted,  and   stand   often   nearly  vertical,  for 
which  reason  they  were  spoken  of  by  Prof.  Tuomey  as  the 
vertical  li  mestones  of  the  valley.  We  usually  see  the  upturned 
edges  of  these  limestone  bands  outcropping  in  the  flatwoods 
in  parallel  rows,  sometimes  running  without  serious  breaks 
for  long  distances.  At  McCalla  Station,  Bessemer,  Powderly, 
and  in  parts  of   Birmingham,  this   limestone   may  be  seen 
and  easily  recognized.     These  are  the  lowest  in  a  geological 
sense,  of  the  rocks  brought  up  by  the  anticlinals  and  faults 
in  our  valleys,  and   are  the  oldest  of  the  rocks  of  Alabama 
about  whose   age   we   can  be  perfectly  sure.     In  a  regular 
symmetrical   anticlinal,   in    which   these   Cambrian   strata 
were  exposed  by  erosion,  they  would,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
occupy  the   central   area,  and  this  is  in   reality   the  case  in 
that  part  cf  the   valley  between  McCalla  Station  and  Tan- 
nehill ;  but  in  the  far  more  common  case,  where   the  anti- 
clinal is  pushed  over  to  the  northwest  and  the  steeper  slope 
occurs  on  that  side,  and  still  more  plainly,  where  a  break 
occurs  along  the  crest  of  the  anticlinal  and  the   strata  on 
the   southeastern  side  are   slipped  up  over   those  on   the 
northwestern,  the  Cambrian  strata  are  to  be  found  no  longer 
in  the  geographical  center  of  the  valley,  but  far  over  on  its 
northwestern  side. 

The  Cambrian  belt  above  described,  thus  marks  the  limit 


VALLEY  REGION  DETAILS  ;  SHADES  VALLEY.       175 

of  the  first  anticlinal  of  the  valley,  and  adjacent  to  it  towards 
the  west  but  separated  from  it  by  a  fault,  is  the  flint  ridge 
of  the  North  Highlands,  (Knox  Dolomite).  As  we  have  al- 
ready said  this  ridge  is  in  structure  a  synclinal,  with  the 
axis  close  to  the  southeastern  border,  and  with  most  of  the 
strata  on  that  side  of  the  axis  overridden  and  concealed  by 
the  Cambrian  of  the  other  side  of  the  fault,  a  case  exactly 
analogous  to  what  we  have  seen  along  the  southeastern 
border  of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field.  In  the  fault  above  spoken 
of  the  adjacent  halves  of  the  anticlinal  of  Jones'  Valley  and 
of  the  synclinal  of  the  flint  ridge,  are  engulfed  more  or  less 
completely,  though  we  commonly  find  along  the  eastern 
face  of  the  flint  ridge  a  narrow  belt  of  vertical  or  nearly  ver- 
tical rocks  which  belong  to  the  synclinal,  and  are  the  only 
remnants  of  its  eastern  half.  As  is  the  case  on  the  corres- 
ponding side  of  the  Cahaba  Field,  these  vertical  measures 
very  rapidly  flatten  down  and  begin  to  rise  on  the  other  dip, 
80  that  the  center  or  axis  of  the  anticlinal  is  very  close  to 
this  eastern  edge. 

As  the  name  indicates,  this  ridge  is  formed  mostly  of  the 
flint  or  chert  of  the  Knox  Dolomite,  but  there  may  be  found 
at  intervals  between  East  Lake  and  Bessemer,  traces  of  the 
rocks  of  other  overlying  formations,  Trenton  and  Clinton, 
showing  that  these  were  also  involved  in  the  foldings,  but 
have  in  great  measure  been  removed  by  denudation. 

Upon  this  flint  ridge  at  several  points,  and  beyond  Besse- 
mer in  the  Salem  Hills,  we  see  great  masses  of  a  peculiar 
rock,  made  up  of  angular  fragments  of  the  chert  of  Knox 
Dolomite  cemented  together  into  a  firm  and  compact  rock. 
This  breccia  is  at  the  top  of  the  Knox  Dolomite,  or  perhaps 
it  would  be  better  to  say,  at  the  base  of  the  next  higher 
series,  the  Trenton,  since  it  is  made  of  fragments  of  the 
Knox  Dolomite,  and  must  therefore  be  younger. 

This  flint  ridge  is  a  marked  feature  of  Jones'  Valley,  and 
extends  without  serious  break  from  near  Village  Creek  at 
Birmingham,  to  Valley  Creek  near  Bessemer.  Northeast  of 
the  former  creek  it  is  seen  again,  and  southwest  of  Valley 
Creek  it  appears  in  the  Salem  Hills.  At  the  two  places 
mentioned  the  ridge  is  cut  by  the  creeks,  down  through  a 
good  part  of  the  chert  of  the  Knox  Dolomite  into  the  red 


176  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

lands  of  the  same  formation,  and  the  continuity  of  the  ridge 
is  interrupted.  We  have  already  intimated  that  in  a  modi- 
fied form  the  synclinal  of  Blount  Mountain  is  the  continua- 
tion of  this. 

Going  northwest  beyond  the  flint  ridge  we  pass  over  the 
strata  of  the  red  lands  of  the  Knox  Dolomite,  then  over  a 
second  belt  of  Cambrian,  all  dipping  back  below  the  ridge, 
and  rising  to  the  northwest  into  the  second  anticlinal,  here 
called  'Possum  Valley.  The  summit  of  this  anticlinal,  like 
that  of  Jones'  Valley,  marks  the  line  of  another  thrust  fault 
similar  to  that  of  the  flint  ridge,  though  much  more  irregu- 
lar in  its  course,  for  while,  along  the  border  of  the  flint  ridge, 
the  fault  brings  the  Cambrian  as  a  rule  in  contact  with  the 
chert  of  the  Knox  Dolomite,  with  here  and  there  an  excep- 
tion where  it  is  brought  up  against  Trenton  and  Clinton,  in 
this  second  fault  the  Cambrian  is  brought  up  in  contact 
with  Knox  Chert,  with  Trenton,  with  Clinton,  with  Sub- 
Carboniferous,  and  even  with  the  measures  of  the  Warrior 
Field.  This  fault  hence  shows  a  much  greater  variation  in 
the  amount  of  displacement  than  the  one  first  named  and 
described.  This  may  be  made  clearer  by  reference  to  the 
section  above  referred  to,  and  to  the  map.  This  fault  runs 
along  nearly  parallel  to  the  line  of  the  Birmingham  Mineral 
Railroad  above  Boyle's,  up  into  Murphree's  Valley.  Above 
the  line  of  the  South  &  North  Alabama  Railroad,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  fault  is  at  some  distance  from  the  edge  of  th« 
Warrior  Field,  and  that  strips  of  the  following  formations 
intervene  between  the  two,  viz.,  Knox  Dolomite,  Trenton, 
Clinton  and  Sub-Carboniferous,  and  that  the  fault  passes 
from  the  western  side  of  'Possum  Valley  across  to  the 
eastern  side  of  Murphree's  Valley.  As  we  approach  Boyle's 
Gap,  the  width  of  the  belt  of  intervening  measures  decreases^ 
some  of  the  formations  seem  to  be  pinched  out  completely 
others  seem  to  be  partly  cut  out,  and  none  of  them  retain 
their  full  characters.  The  diagram  (cross-section)  shows 
the  whole  series  from  the  Knox  Dolomite  up  to  the  Sub- 
Carboniferous  as  intervening  between  the  fault  and  the  edge 
of  the  Warrior  Field,  which  is  in  reality  the  case  in  some 
places,  but  we  need  only  to  examine  the  map  to  see  how  the 
fault  runs  irregularly  along  the  border  of  the  Warrior  Field, 


VALLEY  REGION  DETAILS  ;  SHADES  VALLEY.       177 

now  lapping  up  in  contact  with  the  rocks  of  the  Coal 
Measures,  now  trending  farther  out  into  the  valley,  leaving 
the  upturned  edges  of  the  whole  series  from  Kuox  Dolomite 
up,  between. 

West  of  Bessemer  we  see  a  rather  complicated  spot  where 
the  lied  Mountain  rocks  attain  a  considerable  development, 
which  will  be  understood  better  by  a  study  of  the  map  than 
by  any  description  in  words. 

As  may  be  inferred  from  the  map,  the  Red  Mountain  on 
this  western  side  of  the  vdlley  is  rather  fragmentary,  and  of 
little  value  as  compared  with  the  same  formation  on  the 
other  side,  east  of  Birmingham.  Above  Boyle's  Gap  it  be- 
comes more  regular  and  of  greater  economic  importance. 
It  need  hardly  be  repeated  that  the  strata  of  all  the  forma- 
tions to  the  west  of  this  second  fault,  stand  at  very  high 
angles,  often  being  perpendicular,  and  at  times  being  pushed 
over  past  the  vertical  so  as  to  dip  back  towards  the  south- 
east. The  millstone  grit  of  the  Warrior  Field  may  nearlj 
always  be  seen  as  a  ledge  of  nearly  vertical  rocks  forming, 
most  the  whole  length  of  the  valley,  a  wall,  beyond  which 
we  come  in  a  few  hundred  yards  to  almost  horizontal 
measures,  showing  that  the  disturbance  affects  to  any  great 
degree,  only  the  extreme  edge  of  the  field.  Parallel  with 
this  rock  wall  of  the  Millstone  grit,  we  usually  find  another 
wall  of  vertical  rocks,  with  a  narrow  valley  intervening. 
This  wall  is  formed  by  the  Sub- Carboniferous  sandstone  of 
the  Oxmoor  series.  The  line  of  the  faalt  may  easily  be 
traced  by  the  ledges  of  vertical  or  nearly  vertical  rocks  that 
lie  to  the  northwest  of  it.  Such,  then,  is  the  structure  of  the 
valley  in  all  the  upper  half  of  the  map,  or  above  the  latitude 
of  Bessemer.  Below  that  there  are  some  important  varia- 
tions which  have  in  part  been  referred  to. 

The  variations  from  the  above  named  structure  are  to  be 
seen  in  the  area  through  which  the  McAshan  Mountains  ex- 
tends. This  mountain  is  a  Red  Mountain  ridge  composed 
of  the  three  formations,  Clinton,  Black  Shale,  and  Sub-Car- 
boniferous chert,  with  Trenton  limestone  on  its  eastern  face. 
Beyond  this  mountain  and  across  a  fault,  we  find  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  same  beds,  a  second  Red  Mountain,  in  its  normal 
place  as  regards  the  Warrior  Coal  Field. 
12 


178  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  ALABAMA. 

Although  SO  entirely  different  in  topography  and  in  gen- 
eral appearance,  this  part  of  the  valley  is  itself  also  formed 
by  a  double  anticlinal  with  synclinal  between,  as  may  be 
Been  from  the  following  description ;  proceeding  from  the 
eastern  Red  Mountain  near  McCalla  Station  towards  the 
northwest  across  the  valley,  we  pass  first  over  a  regular 
symmetrical  anticlinal,  the  central  line  of  which,  marked  by 
the  outcrop  of  the  belt  of  Cambrian  rocks,  is  near  the  center 
of  the  valley,  and  is  the  formation  upon  which  the  Alabama 
Great  Southern  Railroad  track  is  laid,  from  Tannehill  up. 
McAshan  Mountains  is  the  counterpart  of  the  eastern  Red 
Mountain  on  the  other  side  of  the  anticlinal,  its  strata  dip- 
ping to  the  northwest  as  the  beds  of  the  eastern  mountain 
dip  to  the  southeast.  On  the  other  side  of  McAshan, 
however,  we  come  to  the  fault  mentioned,  and  the  beds  of 
the  McAshan  appear  to  dip  northwest  under  the  Knox 
Dolomite  on  the  other  side  of  the  fault,  showing  that  we 
have  here  again  an  instance  of  thrust  fault  in  which  the 
strata  on  the  southeast  side  have  been  shoved  under  those  on 
the  northwest  side. 

Southwest  of  the  end  of  the  McAshan  Mountain  we  see 
again  a  recurrence  to  the  usual  type  of  structure  in  this 
valley,  viz.,  an  overlap  of  the  strata  on  the  southeast  side 
upon  those  to  the  northwest  of  the  fault.  As  we  have  said, 
however,  the  geological  structure  in  this  lower  part  of  the 
region  of  the  map  is  not  always  to  be  clearly  made  out,  for 
the  reason  that  it  is  not  possible  to  trace  out  the  outcrops 
of  the  different  formations  because  of  the  great  mass  of  over- 
lying and  more  recent  beds  of  the  Cretaceous.  The  central 
part  of  the  valley  in  this  latitude  is  so  generally  covered  by 
these  beds  that  we  can  only  indicate  here  and  there  the 
points  where  the  underlying  rocks  are  uncovered. 

In  the  vicinity  of  "Woodstock  there  appear  to  be  two  areas 
of  Cambrian  rocks,  the  one  at  the  station  itself,  where  the 
shaly  limestones  have  been  exposed  in  the  cut  made  by  the 
Cahaba  Coal  Company  for  their  railroad,  and  the  other  a 
mile  or  two  to  the  north,  along  the  line  of  the  Birmingham 
Mineral  Railroad,  just  beyond  the  Edwards  ore  banks.  The 
region  between  the  two,  so  far  as  we  are  in  condition  to 
judge,  is  occupied  by  Knox  Dolomite. 


TALLEY  REGION  DETAILS  ;   SHADES  VALLEY.  179 

It  may  be  that  the  structure  here  is  similar  to  that  of  the 
valley  about  Birmingham.  In  a  cut  on  the  Birmingham 
Mineral  Kailroad,  just  beyond  the  Edwards  ore  banks,  thp 
Cambrian  limestone  and  shales  have  been  laid  bare,  and  ex- 
hibit one  of  the  most  perfect  examples  of  the  contortionit 
and  foldings  into  which  it  is  possible  to  throw  solid  rocks. 
The  limestones  have  been  pressed  together  into  a  number 
of  close  folds,  as  perfectly  and  completely  as  one  could  do  it 
with  a  bundle  of  sheets  of  paper.  The  edges  of  these  folded 
limestone  layers  are  seen  in  zig-zag  lines  all  along  on  both 
sides  of  a  cut  of  forty  or  fifty  feet  in  length.  These  layers 
of  limestone  are  quite  pure  and  have  been  used  in  making 
lime  which  slakes  very  well,  showing  that  it  is  of  very  good 
quality.  Now,  while  at  the  base  of  the  cut  and  for  ten  feet 
or  so  above  the  level  of  the  track,  the  limestone  is  quite 
fresh,  and  unweathered,  it  passes  very  suddenly  into  a  yel- 
lowish stratified  clay  in  which  may  be  followed  perfectly  all 
the  lines  of  folding  of  the  limestone  itself,  as  if  the  upper 
part  of  the  limestone,  near  the  outcrop,  and  where  long  sub- 
jected to  the  action  of  the  atmospheric  agencies,  had  been 
converted  into  the  clayey  matter.  If  the  limestone  were  im- 
pure and  charged  with  clayey  material,  we  might  suppose 
that  the  calcareous  matter  was  leached  out  and  the  alumi- 
nous part  left,  but  the  limestone  is  pure  enough  to  afford 
good,  thoroughly  slaking  lime,  so  that  the  whole  appearance 
is  as  though  the  limestone  had  been  removed  by  leaching 
agencies,  and  its  place  taken  by  a  sandy  clay.  We  should 
in  any  case  expect  to  find  a  gradual  transition  from  the  one 
kind  of  material  to  the  other,  but  as  I  have  said,  the  change 
is  rather  abrupt. 

The  strata  of  the  Red  Mountain  may  be  followed  with 
some  interruption  from  opposite  Woodstock  down  to  Vance's- 
on  the  west  side  of  the  valley. 

The  fault  which  occurs  on  this  side  of  the  valley  appears- 
to  run  in  and  out  approximately  parallel  to  the  edge  of  the 
Coal  Field,  now  leaving  a  pretty  full  series  of  strata  between 
it  and  the  Coal  Field,  now  lapping  up  almost  upon  the  bedg 
of  the  latter,  by  pinching  out  or  engulfing  the  intermediate 
formations. 

West  of  Vance's  we  see  a  narrow  anticlinal  fold  which 


180  GEOLOQIOAL  SURVEY  OP  ALABAMA. 

runs  a  short  distance  up  into  the  Coal  Field  and  separates 
a  small  strip  of  synclinal  structure  from  the  main  body  of 
the  Coal  Field.  This  synclinal  extends  southwestward  as 
far  the  limits  of  the  map,  with  Sub-Carboniferous  and  Clin- 
ton rocks,  the  Coal  Measures  ending  at  about  the  latitude 
of  Vance's  station.  The  Clinton  strata  of  this  synclinal  are 
much  broken  up  and  appear  to  be  pinched  out  in  places. 
The  red  ore  occurs  in  the  vicinity  of  Vance's,  at  one  or  two 
points  southwest  of  the  station,  and  in  the  railroad  cut  two 
miles  west  of  the  station.  Further  to  the  southwest  than 
tiie  points  named,  the  Clinton  is  represented  by  sandstone* 
and  conglomerates  alone,  and  the  red  ore  seems  to  be 
wanting. 

The  anticlinal  fold  above  spoken  of  is  faulted  near  its 
central  line,  and  the  rim  of  the  Clinton  rocks  which  would 
normally  run  along  the  western  side  of  the  anticlinal  has 
been  cut  out  by  the  fault  with  the  exception  of  a  small 
remnant  seen  in  the  railroad  cut  above  mentioned.  By  the 
fault  a  strip  of  Knox  Dolomite  has  cut  out  about  half  of  the 
anticlinal  as  shown  on  the  map.  To  the  northeast  of  the 
railroad  the  anticlinal  is  occupied  only  by  the  Oxmoor 
Shales  of  the  Sub-Carboniferous.  In  addition  to  the  great 
fault  above  noticed  there  is  a  smaller  one  which  shows  in 
the  railroad  cut  to  the  west  of  the  trestle  over  the  branch 
of  Hurricane  Creek.  This  structure  will  be  more  easily  un- 
derstood from  a  study  of  the  map  than  from  the  reading  of 
a  description.  The  superficial  beds  of  the  Tuscaloosa  for- 
mation overlying  all  the  older  rocks  makes  it  extremely 
difficult,  and  in  some  cases  impossible,  to  determine  with 
certainty  the  structure  of  the  lower  part  of  the  valley  south 
of  Vance's. 


INDEX. 


FAOB. 

Acton  Basin — Area , J9 

]3ouDdary 39 

Estimate  of  coal  in 48 

Seciions  of     4i 

Situation 39 

Mructnre 39 

Variations  of  dip  of  measures  of 45 

Action  Seam  -Acton  basin,  section  of 43 

Air  bbaft  Seam     Daily  creek  b  isiu 103 

Lollfij'  b.isin 87 

MoDtevallo  ba-in 92-94 

Analyses  Ash— Mammoth  seam,  Henryellen  basm 38 

Ghol-.oa  seam,  Dailey  creek  basin   110 

Coals— Cout^lomenile  seam,  Eun-ka  basin 72 

Helena  s  aui,  Helena  basin 59 

Lemley  seam.  Overturned  Measures 102 

Little  Piit-burgli,  Eurtka  basiu    72 

Mammoth  seam ,  Heuryell'-u  basiu 31-32 

Munteva.lo  seam,  Moulc'Vallo  bas.n 94 

Moyle  seam,  Eureka  basin 72 

Thompson  seam,  Eunka  basiu   72 

Underwood  seam,  Bloeton  basin 115 

■\Vads\vorth  seam,  Eureka  basin 73 

Helena  basiu GO 

Woodstock  seam,  bloeton  basin 115 

Cokes-Mam mnth  seam,  Henryellen  basin 38 

AVadsworth  svam,  Cahaba  basin 65 

"Woodstock  seam,  Bloeton  basin 116 

Anthracite  sjstem  of  miuing 118-119 

Bangor  limestone 155 

Basins  in  C  ihaba  field 11 

Acton   39 

Bloeton Ill 

Cahaba  61 

Dailey  ereek 103 

Dry  creek  74 

Eureka 68 

Gould  78 

Helena 47 

Henryellen 20 

Lolley 83 


182  INDEX. 

BASINS  IN  CAHABA  FIELD— Continued, 

Montevallo 90 

Overturned  Measures 95 

Beebe  seam  in  Overturned  Measures 96,  99,  100 

Beech  Tree  seam,  Blocton  basin 114 

Dailey  creek  basin 107 

Big  Falls,  Lolley  basin 89 

Big  Vein  (seam),  Dailey  creek  basin 106 

Birmingham  Breccia 152 

Black  Fireclay  Seam — Dailey  creek  basin 108 

Lolley  basin  (section  of) 88 

Montevallo  basin 92-94 

Black  Shale  Formations 154 

Black  Shale  or  Gholson  Seam — Dry  creek  basin 76 

Eureka  basin 69-70 

Helena  basin,  section 53 

analyses  of  coke  from .  59 

Blocton  Basin — Area 113 

Boundaries Ill 

Dip  of  Measures 116 

Drainage 112 

Estimate  of  coal  in 113 

Faults 113 

Synclinals  and  anticlinals  in 116 

Roads  in 112 

Topography 112 

Brock  Seam — Cahaba  basin 63 

Buck  Seam — Dry  creek  basin 76 

Eureka  basin  : 69-70 

Helena  basin  (section  of) 52 

Oahaba  Basin — Area 62 

Boundaries 51 

Drainage 62 

Estimate  of  thickness  of  measures 62 

General  section  across 62 

Eoads 61 

Situation 61 

Topography 62 

Varying  rate  of  dip 65 

Cahaba  Field  —Aggregate  thickness  of  measures  of 14 

Amount  of  coal  in 13 

Area 13 

Basins  of  13 

Conglomerates  at  top  of  measures  of 4 

Counties  in  which  measures  occur 17 

Division  of  coals  into  four  groups 14 

Drainage 6-7 

Faults  in ...  15 

General  description 3 

History  of  mining  in 18 


INDEX.  183 

CAHABA  FIELD- Continued. 

Limestone  ledge  in 4 

Overturned  measures  of 15 

Rate  of  dip  of  measures 17 

Resemblance  of  measures  of  to  those  of  Arkansas  and 

Indian  Territory 5 

Roads 10,  11,  12 

Sections  illustrating  structure  of 13-14 

Small  amount  of  sulphur  in  coals 5 

Cahaba  Field — Similarity  of  measures  to  those  of  Warrior  Field 3 

Thickness  of  measures 5 

Topography 6-7-8-9 

Cahaba  Valley — General  description 163 

Geological  and  structural  details 165 

Cannel  Seam  in  Overturned  Measures 97-99 

Carboniferous  Formation  —Subdivisions  of 155 

Choccolocco  Shales 149 

Clark  Seam-Dailey  Creek  basin ,    106-107-109 

Clean  Coal  Seam— Dailey  Creek  basin 107 

Clinton  Formation  described 153 

Coal  Measures  of  the  three  Alabama  fields  once  continuous 157 

Coke  Oven  Seam — Helena  basin 51 

Cahaba  basin 65 

Coke  Seam— Dailey  Creek  basin 106 

Blocton  basin 114 

Combination  Method  of  Mining 122-123 

Conglomerate  Seam — Analysis  of  coal 72 

Dailey  Creek  basin 108 

Eureka  seam 69-70 

Helena  basin 55 

Henryellen    basin,    identical    with    Thompson 

seam  and  Underwood  seam 27 

Lolley  basin 85 

■Cooper  Seam  in  Overturned  Measures 96-98-99-100 

Coosa  Coal   Field 169 

Cretaceous  Formation 157 

Cubical  Vein  Seam— Overturned  Measures 99 

Dailey  Creek  Basin — Area 105 

Boundaries 103 

Dip  of  measures 108 

Drainage 104 

Estimate  of  coal  in 105 

First  mining  in 109 

Roads 104 

Topography 104 

Devonian  Formation 154 

Dodd  Seam  in  Overturned  Measures 96-97-99 

Drift  Formation  or  Orange  Sand 159 

Dry  Creek  Basin — Area 75 

Boundaries 74 

Dip  cf  measures 76 


184  INDEX. 

DKY  CREEK  BASTN— Con  tinned. 

Drainage 74 

Estimate  of  coal 75 

Future  importance  of 76 

Roads  in 75 

Topography 75 

Eureka  Basin — Area 69 

Boundaries G8 

Drainage 68 

Esti  mate  of  coal  in  69 

Method  of  working  seams  in 71 

Strike  of  measiires.    ...          69 

Topography 68 

Vurung  rate  oi  dip  in 70 

Eureka  Company's  Te-t  Slop- — Section  of,  in  Acton  basin 43 

Faults — Amount  of  displncement     16-17 

Boundary  fault  of  C.habi  Field 15 

Difference  in  angle  of  dip  on  tvo  sides  of  16-17 

Interior  faults  of  Caliaba  Field 15 

Reveised  thrust  faults   I'i2 

Tbrustf.ults U2 

Figh  Ream— Overturned  Measures.    99 

Five  Group  Seam — Acton  basin 45 

Folds  in  strata  in  Valley  region .  140-141 

Fort  Payne  Chert     Sub-Carboniferou i           155 

Gholson  or  Woor'stock  Seam— Bloctoa  basin 114 

Dailey     Creek     Basin,    sections     and 

analyses 1L6-107-109-110 

LoUey  basin 85 

Gould  Basin — Area 79 

Boundaries 78 

Dip  of  measures 82 

Drainsige 79 

Estimate  of  amount  of  coal  79 

Roads 80 

Topograjjhy 79 

Gould  Seam — Acton  basin 44 

Blocton  basin 114 

Cahaba  basin     63-6')-66 

Gould  basin 80-81 

Half  Yard  Seam  — Dailey  Creek  basin   106 

Harkness  Seam  -  Acton  basin .    45 

Helena  basin   .  -  64 

Helena  basin — Area 59 

Boundaries 47 

Disturbances  in  measures  of 48 

Drainage 59 

Estimate  of  coal     59 

General  section  across  50 

Roads 48 


INDEX.  185 

HELENA  BASIN— Continued. 

Topography 59 

Varj'ing  dip  of  measures 59 

Helena  Seam —Analysis  of  coal 72-73-77 

Dailey  Creek  basin 108 

Dry  Creek  basin 76 

Eureka  basin 60-70 

Helena  basin 57-58 

Henryellen  basin 27-35-36 

Lolley  basin     86 

Overturned  Measures 98 

Sections  of 35-26-57-58-86-98 

Henryellen  Basin— Analysis 20-37 

Boundaries 21 

Drainage 29-30 

Estimate  of  coal  in 36 

Koads 22 

Section  across 23 

Thickness  of  measures 37 

Topography 29 

Jones'  Valley — Cambrian  formation  in 173,  176,  178 

E'lstern  Red  Mountain   172-178 

Exceptions  to  general  plan  of  structure 170 

General  description 170 

Knox  Dolomite  of 173,  175,  175 

South  Highlands 173 

Western  Ked  Mountain 172,  178 

Enox  Dolomite — Description  of  rocks  of 150 

Lancashire  Mining  Methods 120 

Lemley  Seam  —Analysis  of  coal 102 

Overturned  Measures 99 

Lolley  Basin — Area 85 

Big  falls 89 

Boundaries 83 

Dip  of  measures 89 

Drainage 83 

Estimate  of  coal 85 

Koads 84 

Topography 83 

Little  Mayberry  Creek— Section  along 97 

Little  Pittsburgh  Seam— Analysis  of  coal 72 

Dailey  Creek  basin 107 

Eureka  basiu 69,  70 

Helena  basin 54 

Henryellen  basin 64 

Lolley  basin 85 

Sections  of 34,  35,  54 

Lnke  Seam — Dailoy  Creek  basin, 108 

Lolley  basin 88 

Montevallo  basin 92,  94 


186  INDEX. 

Mammoth  Seam — Analysis  of  coal 31,  32 

Analysis  of  ash 38 

Analysis  of  coke 38 

Henryellen  basin 26 

Section  of 26 

Split  in 26 

Map  of  Cahaba  Field — Account  of  its  development 1,  2 

Martin  Seam,  in  Acton  basin 45 

Mining  Methods 118 

Monongahela  Mining  Methods 118,  119 

Montevallo  Basin— Area 91 

Boundaries 90 

Drainage 91 

Estimate  of  coal 92 

Eoads 91 

Topography 91 

Montevallo  Coal  and  Transportation  Company 94 

Montevallo  Conglomerate — Lolley  basin 88 

Montevallo  basin 91 

Overturned  Measures 97 

Montevallo— Change  of  direction  of  boundary  of  Cahaba  Field  near. .  168 

Montevallo  Seam — Analyses  of  coal  94 

Dailey  creek  basin 108 

Dry  creek  basin 76 

Lolley  basin 87 

Montevallo  basin 92 

Sections  of 87-93 

Montevallo  Shales— Described 148 

Mountain  Limestone 156 

Sandstone  bed  in 156-157 

Quarried  at  Bangor,  Blount  Springs  and  Truss- 

ville 157 

Moyle  Seam — Analyses  of  coal 72 

Eureka  basin 72 

Helena  basin 54 

Nunnally  Seam— Acton  basin 45 

Cahaba  basin 64 

Gould  basin 81 

Henryellen  basin 24 

Section  of 81 

Orange  Sand  or  Drift 159 

Overturned  Measures— Area 96 

Boundaries 95 

Dip  of  strata 97 

Drainage 95 

Estimate  of  coal 96 

First  mining  in 100 

Roads 96 

Topography 95 

Oxmoor  sandstone  and  shales 155 


INDEX.  187 

Pelham  limestone 152 

Piney  woods  fault 88 

Poole  Seam — Henryellen  basin 24 

Section  of 29 

Post-Tertiary  formations 158 

Pratt's  Ferry— Synclinal  fold 167 

Pump  Seam — Helena  basin 51 

Henryellen  basin 36 

Quarry  Seam — Dailey  creek  basin 107 

Helena  basin 55 

Eed  Mountain  or  Clinton  formation 153 

Boup's  Valley—  Anticlinal  near  Vance's 180 

Cambrian  rocks  in 178-79 

Clinton   strata 177,  178,  179,  180 

Edwards'  ore  bank 179 

General  description 170 

Knox  Dolomite 177,  178,  180 

McAshan  mountain 177-178 

Synclinal  in,  near  Vance's 180 

Salem  Breccia 152 

Section— General,  across  region  shown  on  maps 161 

Sections  of  Coal  Seams — 

Acton  seam,  Acton  basin 43 

Beebe  seam,  Overturned  measures 99 

Black  Fire  Clay  seam,  LoUey  basin 88 

Black  Shale  seam,  Helena  basin 53 

Buck  seam ,  Helena  basin 52 

Cannel  seam.  Overturned  measures 99 

Clark  seam,  Dailey  creek  basin 107 

Cooper  seam.  Overturned  measures 99 

Dodd  seam,  Overturned  measures 99 

Eureka  Co's  Slope  seam,  Acton  basin 43 

Gholson  seam,  Dailey  creek  basin 107 

Gould  seam,  Goul  J  basin 81 

Helena  seam.  Pry  Creek  basin 77 

Helena  basin 57-58 

Henryellen  basin 35-36 

Loll  ey  basin  ..    86 

Overturned  measures 98 

Little  Pittsburgh  seam,  Helena  basin 54 

Henryellen  basin 34-35 

Mammoth  seam,  Henryellen  basin 26 

MontevaUo  seam,  LoUey  basin 87 

Montevallo  basin 93 

Poole  seam,  Henryellen  basin 29 

Pump  seam,  Henryellen  basin 36 

Shaft  seam.  Overturned  measures 99 

Thompson  seam ,  Blocton  basin 114 

Three  Feet  seam.  Overturned  measures  99 


188  INDEX. 

SECTIONS  OF  COAL  SEAMS-Oontinued. 

Wadsworth  seam,  Cahaba  basio 66 

Enreka  basiu 71 

Helena  basin 50-51 

Whetrock  seam,  Cababa  basin 66 

Woodstock  seam,  Dailey  creek  basin 107 

Shades' Valley— UnJer'ying  rocks 172 

Shaft  Seam— OverturneJ  Measures 96 

Sections  of  i»8,  99,  100 

Shnte  Seam— Cahaba  basin 65 

Helena  basin 51 

Silurian  Formations  150 

Smilbshop  Seam  -  Dailey  Creek  basin 107 

Helena  Basin 55 

Stiine  seam,  Dailey  creek  basin 108 

Lolley  basin 88 

Montevallo  seam 92-94 

Snb-Carboniferous  Formation — General  description 155 

Snb-Carboniferous  Limestone— Varying  thickness  of 4 

Thompson,  or  Underwood,  or  Conglomerate  Seam  -Analysis 72-115-116 

Blocton  basin.   114 

Dailey  Cieek  basin..  .108-109 

Eurc^ka  basin 69,  70 

Lolley  basin 85 

Section 114 

Three  Feet  Seam— Overturned  Measures 99 

Trenton  Limestone 152 

Tuscaloosa  Formation 158 

Underground  H-iulage 128-129 

Underwood  Seam— Same  as  Conglomerate  and  Gholson,  analysis. 72, 115, 11 6 

Blocton  basin 114 

Dailey  Creek  basin 108 

Eureka  basin 69,  70 

Lolley  basin 85 

Section 114 

Valley  Regions— Cambrian  Formations 148 

Choccolocco  Shales 148 

Classification  of  the  rocks ,. ..       146 

Coosa  Shales 148 

Dearth  of  fossils     146 

Distribution  of  the  rocks  in 159 

Folds  and  faults  in 141,  142 

Folds  not  symmetrical 143 

Formation  of  anticlinal  valleys 144 

Formations  enumerated J 38 

Origin  of  the  rocks 137 

Paleozoic  formations  defined 146 

Reversal  of  strata 142 

Reversed  thrust  faults 142 

Submergence  of  valley  regions  at  different  times. . , .       145 


INDEX.  169 

TALLEY  EEGIONS— Continued. 

Thrust  faults 142 

Vaiiations  in  the  rocks,  with  yarjing  locality 147 

Wadsworth  Seam — Acton  basin 45 

Analysis 60,  65,  73 

Blocton  basin 114 

Cababa  bitsin 64 

Eureka  basin 69-70 

Helena  basin 50-51 

Henrj-ellen  basin 25 

Sections  of 50,  51,  66,  71 

Weisner  Quartzite 149 

Whetrock  Seam  in  Acton  basin 45 

Cahuba  basin 66 

Helena  basin 50 

Section 6< 

Woodstock  Seam — (Same  as  Gholson),  analysis 110,  115,  116 

Blocton  basin 114 

Dailey  Creek  basin 106,  109 

LoUey  basin 85 

Section 107 

Yeshio  Seam  — Dailey  Creek  basin 108 

Lolley  basin 88 


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